
Class 
Book. 



tit7 5 



.H55 



\q2l 



NEW 

AMERICAN HISTORY 



BY 

ALBERT EUSHNELL HART, LL.D. 

PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 




AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO 






Copyright, 1917, 1921, by 
ALBERT BUSHNELL HART 



All rights reserved 



NEW AMERICAN HISTORY 

w. p. 7 



FEB 17 



1921 



0)CI,A608380 



THE AUTHOR TO THE TEACHER 

This book is prepared with a view to a simple system of 
study and teaching which may be summarized as follows : 

(i) The textbook will be carefully read and studied by the 
pupils: first, for the acquirement of a body of useful facts, 
and then for a sense of the movement and proportions of the 
history of the country. Essential names, events, and dates go 
directly into the text; the dates in parentheses are inserted 
merely to keep straight the progress of events. 

(2) Class exercises will be based first of all upon the text, 
with such methods of recitation, question, and quiz as the 
teacher may prefer. Here is the opportunity to show how 
previous chapters bear on the day's subject, and to enlarge the 
subject, through the teacher's knowledge. 

(3) Outside reading of additional books by the pupils wiK 
greatly aid in accomplishing the teacher's purpose. A textbook, 
in order to cover the ground, must briefly notice many facts 
and statements which can be enlarged to advantage out of other 
books. The lists of references which follow each of the chapters 
are guides to a variety of formal histories, biographies, and 
reference books. Special attention is called to the Hsts of sources, 
illustrative works, and pictures. 

(4) Written work has long been recognized as one of the ad- 
juncts of historical study in the secondary school : it may take 
many forms, such as essays, based on secondary authorities ; 
reports, based in whole or in part on sources; brief "judgment 
questions" set and answered in class ; or "written recitations." 
The chapter references will aid in such work. The first group of 
"Topics" can be prepared mostly by enlarging the brief state- 

* ments of the textbook from general histories, biographies, ency- 



iv The Author to the Teacher 

clopedias, and similar accessible books. The "Topics for Further 
Search " suggest the use of a larger range of secondary writers 
and of the available sources. Naturally the school pupil's use 
of sources is a very different thing from the historian's re- 
search. It is worth while to learn that "sources" are simply 
records made at or near the time of events by people in a posi- 
tion to know what was going on. Well-selected sources bring 
home to the mind the reality of history; they bring out the 
human element ; they vitalize past times. 

(5) Geography and map work, oral and written, are aided 
by the abundant maps in the text and those referred to in 
accessible volumes and atlases mentioned in the chapter ref- 
erences. 

In using this book as a foundation for teaching it may be 
well to keep in mind the features of the work which the author 
believes to be most important for the pupil and most helpful to 
the teacher. They may be summed up as follows : (i) Political 
geography, as the background of national history, is emphasized 
throughout the book and made available by maps and geo- 
graphical references. (2) The people of the United States form 
one of the main factors throughout, so that social conditions 
and events have been freely described; and that part of the 
work is backed up by many of the references, especially those 
under "Sources" and "Illustrative." (3) The economic fea- 
tures of American history are dwelt upon in many sections, and 
particularly in those chapters dealing with pursuits, industries, 
trade, and business. One of the main threads running through 
the book is the process by which the continent has been occupied 
and the gifts of nature have been made available. (4) All 
sections of the country have helped to make the Union ; hence, 
all sections. North, East, South, West, and far West have been 
included in the plan of the volume. (5) Since what makes a 
nation is the greatness of its people, this book aims to bring out 
clearly the character and pubhc services of great Americans. 
The details of the lives of some of these men appear in special 



The Author to the Teacher v 

sections of the text. (6) Foreign relations, diplomatic con- 
troversies, and their settlement receive due attention. (7) 
The accounts of mihtary and naval events include Httle detail 
of battles and campaigns, in order to make room for discussions 
of the causes, aims, and conduct of our various wars and the 
state of public feeling behind them. (8) The government of 
the American people is another main subject throughout the 
book, though it is treated not technically, but so as to show 
the main principles, and the way they have worked out in the 
course of time. (9) The bibliographical apparatus has been 
brought down to narrow space limits by abbreviating the titles. 
The more important books are listed in Appendix B ; and the 
place and date of publication of any book mentioned can always 
be found through a library. (10) The list of sources gives an 
opportunity to reach selected extracts or extended documents ; 
a selected set of source publications can easily be made up from 
these indications. (11) Special efforts have been made to gather 
a convenient list of illustrative works, descriptive volumes, 
stories, novels, and other interesting matter. (12) The pictures, 
with the exception of a few reproductions of famous paintings, 
are all realities, intended to place before the pupil in visible 
form the faces of public men, the surroundings of famous events, 
and some of the national monuments and buildings. (13) In 
Appendix A will be found a select list of materials found service- 
able to teachers. 

Pains have been taken to make the book as free from errors in 
fact and statement as possible. The chapters have been verified 
by Mr. David M. Matteson. To combine into one volume the 
broad and manifold phases of a great nation's life is a difficult 
task. I have, at least, tried to write about the things that 
count ; to describe events which have aided to make us Ameri- 
cans ; to set before my young countrymen the ideal of true 

national greatness. 

ALBERT BUSHNELL HART. 



CONTENTS 



BEGINNINGS 

CHAP. PAGE 

I. Foundations of American History . . . ^ . . i 

II. The Century of Discovery (1492-1604) 18 



COLONIZATION 

III. European Colonization (i 604-1 660) 34 

IV. English Colonization after 1660 57 

V. Social and Political Life (1689-1 763) 72 

VI. France and the West (1670-1 763) 91 

VII. Colonial Business (1750- 17 75) 107 



REVOLUTION AND THE CONSTITUTION 

VIII. Causes and Course of the Revolution (i 763-1 781) . . 126 

IX. Building of a New Nation (17 75-1 781) 151 

X. Confederation and Federal Constitution (i 781-1788) . . 168 



THE FEDERAL UNION 

XI. The Original People of the Federal Union (1780-1800) 

XII. Applying the Constitution (i 789-1 793) . 

XIII. Beginning of Party Politics (i 793-1801) 

XIV. Expansion of the Republic (1801-1809) 
XV. War with Great Britain (1809-1815) 



193 
209 
223 

237 
252 



NATIONAL SPIRIT 

XVI. Settling the West (i 800-1 820) 265 

XVII. The. New Americas and the Monroe Doctrine (1806-1823) . 283 

XVIII. Growth of National Spirit (1815-1830) 29s 

vi 



Contents 



vn 



SECTIONALISM 

CHAP. 

XIX. Social and Sectional Conditions (1829-1841) 

XX. New Political Issues (1829-1841) 

XXI. Advance to the Pacific (i 841-1850) . 

XXII. Economic Progress (1830-1860) 

XXIII. Sectional Controversy (i 850-1 859) . 



PAGE 

306 
323 
337 
358 
382 



CIVIL WAR 

XXIV. Division between North and South (1860-1861) 

XXV. North and South in 186 1 

XXVI. The Military Side of the Civil War (1861-1865) 

XXVII. Civil Side of the War (1861-1865) . 



401 
420 

43 S 
464 



REORGANIZATION 

XXVIII. Reconstruction of the Union (1865-1876) . 

XXIX. Social and Economic Changes (1865-1S85) 

XXX. Politics and Administration (1876-1896) . 

XXXI. Regulation of Business (1S85-1895) . 



484 
503 
519 
537 



THE WORLD POWER 

XXXII. The Spanish War and its Results (1895-1903) . 

XXXIII. New South and Far West (1885-1916) 

XXXIV. Broadening of the Government (1901-1912) 
XXXV. The United States as a World Power (1912-1917) 

XXXVL What America Has Done for the World . . ' 

XXXVII. The United States in the Great War 



559 
577 
598 
619 
632 
647 



APPENDICES 

A. Brief List of Desk Books ix 

E. General Bibliography x 

C. States of the Union ^vi 

D. Declaration of Independence xviu 

E. Constitution of the United States ...,„. xxi 



NEW AMERICAN HISTORY 

CHAPTER I 

FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

I. Dawn of American History 

Where does American history begin? The true fathers 
of America are the Europeans who, three or four centuries 
ago, had the courage to voyage across unknown seas, and the 
persistence to plant colonies beyond the ocean. The men of 
each colony brought with them the reUgion, language, laws, 
and methods of government to which they and their ancestors 
were accustomed ; hence the early history of America is really 
a part of European history. The first American colonists 
were simply Spaniards, Portuguese, or Frenchmen in America ; 
and the Enghsh settlers who removed overseas looked upon 
themselves as still a part of the English people. When that 
bond was broken by the Revolution of 1775, the United States 
became at once one of the family of civiHzed nations. Our his- 
tory has always been closely connected with that of Europe by 
commerce, by immigration, by sharing the world's Uteratures, 
by interchange of inventions and principles of government. 

Five hundred years ago, the only parts of the world that were 
known to Europeans were their own continent, the neighboring 
islands, and parts of Asia and Africa. The discovery of America 
was a result in great part of that new spirit of interest in the past 

I 



2 Foundations of American History 

and curiosity about the world, which we call the Renaissance. 
When, about the year 1300, men of modern European nations 
began to appreciate the beauty and power of ancient writers 
and of ancient works of art, interest in nature sprang up again 
with passionate force, and with it the desire to know the shape 
and extent of the world. Hence, when a new commercial route 
from Europe to India was needed, men were willing to take 
great risks, to sail across the unknown western ocean, and to 
explore lands hitherto undreamed of. 

2. Inventions 

The new spirit showed itself especially in two inventions 
(both previously known in China), which helped discovery and 
exploration : (i) Gunpowder, first used in war about 1350, 
enabled the invaders of America to beat the savages. (2) Print- 
ing with movable types, probably first practiced in Europe by 
Gutenberg in 1450, served to spread the fame of the New 
World. 

Long voyages became possible because the art of navigation 
was steadily advancing. Seagoing ships were now fitted with 
keels and single rudders, with heavy spars and square sails; 
and for defense from the seas and from enemies, they were pro- 
vided with high bulwarks, with " forecastles" and "aftercastles." 
There was little distinction between merchantmen and war- 
ships : in time of war the trader simply took on a few more guns 
and men and became a fighting cruiser. 

Naval science was immensely aided by four inventions, which 
by 1450 were widely used : (i) The wondrous art of sailing on 
the wind gave confidence to men on long voyages, because they 
could get back against an adverse wind. (2) The magnetic 
compass was a guide far out of sight of land, and when the 
stars were not visible. (3) The astrolabe enabled the mariner 
roughly to estimate his distance from the equator. (4) The 
portolano, or sea chart, showed what was known about the seas 
and coasts. 



Europe and the East 3 

3. Europe and the East 

The approach to American history came through the attempt 
to establish new relations between Europe and Asia. In 1450 
Europe had no direct intercourse by sea with India, China, and 




Early Routes of Commerce between Europe and Asia. (Showing 
the Portuguese discoveries along the African coast.) 

Japan. Eastern products found their way westward only by 
transfer overland at the head of the Red Sea, or by a slow and 
expensive caravan journey across Asia, over routes which were 
broken in two by the Turks when they took Constantinople in 
1453. After that, how were Europeans to get such eastern 



4 Foundations of American History 

products as carpets and silks, pearls and cotton goods, the sweet 
white powder called sugar, the gums, and the pepper that some- 
times sold for its weight in gold ? 

One European, Marco Polo, had actually crossed Asia and re- 
turned from the Chinese coast in 1295, and thus reported : "And 
I tell you with regard to that Eastern Sea of Chin, according to 
what is said by the experienced pilots and mariners of those 
parts, there be 7459 Islands in the waters frequented by the said 
mariners. . . . And there is not one of those Islands but pro- 
duces valuable and odorous woods . . . and they produce also 
a great variety of spices." In course of time the question began 
to be asked, Why might not the Spice Islands and Japan be 
reached by sea from western Europe? Hence attempts were 
made to find an eastward water passage around Europe by the 
Arctic Ocean, and around Africa by the Atlantic Ocean. 

Moreover, the learned men of the Renaissance pointed out 
that the ancients believed the world to be round. A strange 
book of wonders, called the Travels of Sir John Mandeville 
(published about 1370), says, "For when the sun is east in 
those parts towards paradise terrestrial, it is then midnight in 
our parts of this half, for the roundness of the earth. For our 
Lord God made the earth all round in the midplace of the 
firmament." By 1470 the Florentine astronomer Toscanelli 
figured out the circumference of the earth at very nearly its 
true length. If the world was really round, why was it not 
possible to reach India by sailing westward instead of east- 
ward? 

4. The Early Colonizing Nations 

Such a question could best be answered by the maritime 
nations of western Europe — by Italy, Spain, France, England, 
and Portugal. The Portuguese had already begun to make long 
voyages west and south. They discovered or rediscovered the 
four groups of the Canary, Madeira, Cape Verde, and Azores 
islands. Under the direction of Prince Henry the Navigator, 



The Early Colonizing Nations 5 

their vessels pushed down the west coast of Africa; but at 
the time of his death they had reached no farther south than 
Sierra Leone. 

The neighbor and great rival of Portugal was Spain. The 
marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon with Isabella of Castile brought 
under one sovereignty the Christian parts of that land. In 1492, 
by the conquest of the Moors of Granada (southern Spain), the 
way was cleared for one great Spanish kingdom. Twenty-seven 




Western Europe about 1500. (Showing the chief commercial centers and 
routes of trade.) 
















^^. ^ 






5 g ^ o 



Atlantic Coast of North America 7 

years later, Charles V, grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella, king 
of Spain and ruler of the Netherlands, became also German 
emperor, and thus brought Spain into the heart of European 
politics. Spain built a powerful navy, and organized an infantry 
that could defeat knights in armor and was almost invincible by 
other footmen ; and for many years she was the strongest state 
in Europe. 

Germany, England, and France in this period were wearing 
themselves out with civil wars and other wars, and had little 
energy left for voyages of discovery. Italy was broken up into 
several states, but furnished the best and boldest sailors of that 

period. 

5. Atlantic Coast of North America 

The Europeans of the fifteenth century thought of the world 
as consisting of only three parts : Europe, Asia, and Africa. 
After the discovery of America, as described in the next chapter, 
it required a generation of explorers to approach the truth that 
North America is not part of Asia, and more than a century 
passed before men generally began to think of the western 
hemisphere in its true relations to the rest of the world. The 
course of American discovery and colonization was much affected 
by the physical character of the land; therefore, the nature 
of the country is one of the essentials of American history. 

The Atlantic coast of North America abounds in deep and 
sheltered harbors, which helped the early settlers in their sea- 
faring. The coast is bold and rugged as far south as Massa- 
chusetts Bay, and the country inland is hilly and stony, and 
abounds in waterfalls. South of the Hudson, a low coast plain 
gradually widens till it reaches Georgia, and thence stretches 
westward along the Gulf of Mexico to Texas. Its sandy coast 
is fringed with shallow lagoons, separated from the open sea by 
long, narrow islands. 

Up to the foothills of the Appalachians this southern country 
is flat and fertile and well adapted to agriculture. The sluggish 
rivers are generally navigable from the coast to the "Fall Line," 



8 Foundations of American History 

where abundant water power has aided the growth of a series 
of towns and cities, such as Trenton, Richmond, Petersburg, 
Raleigh, Columbia, Augusta, and Macon. The flatness of the 
Atlantic coast gave rise to one disadvantage : innumerable 
swamps and fresh-water ponds bred mosquitoes. When our 
forefathers sickened with fevers, they little guessed that it was 
this insignificant enemy which brought disease, death, and often 
ruin to a colony. 

On the west, the Atlantic lowland is shut in by the Appalach- 
ian Mountain system, which extends in a belt about a hundred 
miles wide from the Gulf of St. Lawrence 1600 miles southwest- 
ward to northern Alabama. On the western side of these 
mountains is an upland plateau which declines gradually to the 
west and is deeply trenched by the steep-sided valleys of the 
streams. Like the lower coast lands, this whole highland region 
was originally clothed with forests which concealed the lurking 
savage. 

6. Interior of Our Country 

The west slope of the Appalachian plateau merges into a vast 
low plain, which is drained partly northeastward to Hudson 
Bay, partly eastward through the Great Lakes to the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence, but chiefly southward through the Mississippi 
River system. A northern belt, as far west as the upper 
Mississippi, and a southern belt, as far as the Ozark Plateau, 
were originally forest-covered ; but the central part from Indiana 
westward was made up of broad grassy prairies, treeless except 
for narrow fringes of timber along the watercourses. 

The St. Lawrence and Mississippi valleys make up the most 
extensive tract of highly fertile land in the world. Most of it has 
abundant rainfall. "When tickled with a hoe, it laughs with 
a harvest" ; and it has almost every variety of soil and product. 
The numerous streams furnish alluvial "bottom land." North 
of the Missouri and Ohio rivers most of the country is covered 
with glacial deposits, making nature's wheat fields ; and the vast 
prairies grow all kinds of crops, especially corn. 



Pacific Coast of Our Country g 

About 500 miles beyond the Mississippi River the land rises 
gradually into a treeless plateau, which is called the Great 
Plains and is so dry that not much farming is possible without 
irrigation. The "bunch grass" of these plains once supported 
countless herds of wild bison, and now is the pasturage for beef 
cattle. 

Beyond the plains is the Rocky Mountain chain, with a general 
elevation of about 10,000 feet. These lofty and compHcated 
ranges occupy a belt of country from 200 to 300 miles wide, made 
up of mountains extremely rough and steep. Their summits 
reach to nearly 15,000 feet, though the chain may be crossed 
at elevations not greater than from 6000 to 8000 feet. West 
of the mountains are broad, rugged plateaus. In these moun- 
tains and uplands the Indians found large game for food, and 
small fur-bearing animals. From the sheep that now range 
the region the white man still 
draws material for clothing ; 
while in the upheaved and 
dislocated strata he finds our 
richest stores of gold, silver, 
copper, and lead. 



7. Pacific Coast of Our 
Country 

Farther west, rises the steep 
escarpment of the Sierra 
Nevada and Cascade chains, 
which sink away again in a 
long western slope, abundantly 
watered in winter by moist 
winds from the Pacific, that 
clothe it with thick forests of 
valuable trees. These chains 
are scarcely more than seventy- 
five miles wide, but they 




Big Trees in California 



lo Foundations of American History 

rival the Rocky Mountains in height and ruggedness. West 
of the crest of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade systems, and 
beyond a series of long lowland valleys, stand the low Coast 
Ranges, which rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean. These 
ranges are broken down to the sea at three places only: the 
bay of San Francisco, the Columbia River, and the Strait of 
Juan de Fuca, which leads to Puget Sound,. The climate is 
much the same all along the western coast — warm, dry 
summers and mild winters, which have made it a resort for 
travelers and health seekers. 

8. Routes of Trade and Travel 

Through the forests and across the mountains ran two systems 
of primeval routes of travel : footpaths and waterways, 
(i) Throughout the continent, buffalo paths and Indian trails, 
sometimes only six inches wide, led through prairie and forest ; 
they often followed the divides between the valleys, because 
they were free from crossings of streams. (2) A network of 
water routes was made by rivers and lakes, on which plied the 
dugout and, in the north, the Indian birch-bark canoe, which 
was one of the best inventions of any savage race ; it was easy 
to make, swift to paddle, and light to "tote" over a carry 
from one system of rivers to another. 

For long journeys to the west the Atlantic streams could 
be followed up to the divides separating them from the tribu- 
taries of the Great Lakes or of the Ohio River. The routes 
across the Appalachian chain ran for the most part on the same 
lines as the present trunk-line railroads, especially through 
the gaps at the heads of the Mohawk, Susquehanna, Potomac, 
and James rivers. By carries or portages known to the Indians, 
one could also pass from the Great Lakes to Hudson Bay, or 
to the upper Mississippi, or to the Ohio. Examples of such 
transfer points are Ravenna, Ohio, between the Cuyahoga and 
Mahoning rivers ; Fort Wayne, Indiana, between the Maumee 
and the Wabash; and Chicago, between Lake Michigan and 



American Products 



li 




Important Indian Portages. 

the Des Plaines branch of the Ilhnois. At such places white 
men's towns eventually grew up. Indians rarely crossed from 
the east to the Pacific drainage, though the passes were known 
to the natives. 

9. American Products 
The whole land originally abounded in wild animals. The 
deer and the bison, commonly called buffalo, furnished meat 
for the hungry, clothing for the cold, and a roof for the family ; 
the game birds, of which the turkey and the pigeon were the most 
plentiful, increased the food supply ; and the coast waters and 
streams abounded in fish and in fur-bearing animals. The 
earth furnished the savage with berries and other fruits, corn, 
beans, pumpkins, squashes, and maple sugar for his diet ; tobacco 
for his luxury ; herbs and simples for diseases and wounds ; wood 
for his hut and his fire. 



12 



Foundations of American Historv 







Interior of a Zuni Pueblo. (About the same size as in 1492.) 

The colonists found valuable resources in the timber and 
the iron ores ; their descendants discovered coal and oil, and 
copper, lead, zinc, and the precious metals ; but almost the only 
things the Indian had to sell that the white man coveted were 
deerskins and furs, especially that of the beaver. Still Amer- 
ica yielded three products not then known to the Old World : 
(i) Corn was the plant most widely sown and harvested by 
the Indians; the colonists quickly found it to be "a grain of 
general use to man and beast." (2) The potato, native of South 
America, in the course of time became the chief food of millions 
of Europeans. (3) Tobacco, everywhere much prized by the 
Indians, grew wild or was rudely cultivated. 

10. Native Civilization in America 

The native inhabitants of America, called Indians by Colum- 
bus because he supposed he had reached the Indian coast of 
Asia, were almost all of one great race, though their origin 
is a puzzle for scientists. Throughout central North America 
exist a great number of mounds, some of which are graves, some 



Native Civilization in America 



13 



village sites, some defenses, some the outlines of animals ; 
but there is no reason to suppose that the "mound builders" 
were different from the ordinary Indians. 

From Georgia to Arizona, most Indian tribes raised plenty of 
food and lived in fixed towns, some southwestern peoples in 
cliff dwellings. The descendants of some of these tribes, as for 
instance the Zunis, still live in the same communal villages or 
pueblos, and carry on much the same life as their forefathers. 

Farther south, in the communal city of Mexico, were the 
Aztecs, men of war who lived on tribute or plunder from neigh- 
boring tribes, and reveled in human sacrifice ; they had the arts 
of making pottery, of working in soft metals, of weaving and 
feather work, and even of a kind of picture writing. In Mexico 
and Central America ruined stone cities mark a higher civili- 
zation, already decaying when the white man came. These 
abound in elaborately carved stone walls, stairways, and monu- 
ments, strangely like certain temples and idols in eastern Asia. 
In South America native civilization reached its highest point 
in the empire of the Incas in Peru, 
who had an organization far above 
that of the ordinary Indians ; for 
they built roads and stone towns, 
trained llamas for beasts of burden, 
and used a system of records made 
by knotted cords. 

The Indians who most disturbed 
the English colonists were three 
groups: (i) along the northern At- 
lantic coast, the Algonquin family ; 
(2) inland, between the Hudson 
and Lake Erie, the "Five Nations" 
of Iroquois ; (3) between the Mis- 
sissippi and the southeast coast 
the powerful Cherokees, kin to the 
Iroquois, and the Muskogee family, 
h-^rt's new amer. hist. — 2 




Ancient Peruvian Jar. 
(Perhaps a portrait.) 



14 Foundations of American History 

including the intelligent, numerous, and warlike tribes of 
Choctaws, Creeks, and Chickasaws. All these Indians were 
vigorous and hardy people, well built, tall, and handsome. 
Their clothing was chiefly of deerskins, supplemented after the 
whites came by the "match-coat," or blanket. They gathered 
into villages, living for the most part in wigwams of bark or 
skins; though some tribes had "long houses"- — rows of con- 
tinuous wooden dwellings. 

The main occupations of these Indians were fishing and hunt- 
ing and fighting, but nearly all had cornfields, and some of them 
plots of tobacco and vegetables, all tilled by the women. The 
Indians were fond of gayety, lively conversation, dancing, and 
open-air games. They knew no real religion ; early discoverers 
said that they worshiped stones and the devil. Their priests 
were medicine men who sang, shook their rattles, and circled 
about the fire ten or twelve hours together, "with most im- 
petuous and interminate clamours and howling." In many 
ways the Indians showed remarkable inventive skill. They 
strung bows, fashioned stone arrowheads, clubs, and hatchets, 
contrived snowshoes, made rude pottery, tanned skins, executed 
beautiful designs in beads and porcupine quills, manufactured 
maple sugar, plaited nets, carved pipes, wove baskets, painted 
pictographs on skins and rocks, had a currency of wampum 
made from seashells, and invented the serviceable bark canoe. 

II. Indian Warfare and Government 

In war the Indians were among the fiercest fighting men of 
all history. Their weapons were the bow and arrow, club, toma- 
ha-viitk, aiid stone knife ; and they quickly adopted the white 
man's muskets, axes, and knives. Swift and silent in move- 
ment, they chose to attack by surprise ; if once beaten back, 
they were likely to give up and go home for the time, rather 
than lose more men. Their custom of killing or enslaving men, 
women, and children alike, was too often imitated by their 
white enemies, who also learned how to take the scalps of their 



Indian Warfare and Government 



15 



savage adversaries. The narratives of white captives are filled 
with accounts of fearful tortures. 

Fortunately for the whites, the Indians were broken up into 
small political fragments. The so-called "tribes," often in- 
cluding many villages, were united by the loosest of ties ; they 
fought among themselves. The fundamental idea of the Indian 
was that every member of every other tribe, unless bound by 




Indian Wampum Belts. 



friendly treaty, was his enemy ; and he looked on all white 
men as members of one hostile tribe. Indeed, the whole 
Indian conception of government and society was different 
from that of the white man. The tribes were subdivided into 
clans or "totems," and families; and the tribal councils were 
mere "powwows," for the decision bound nobody; yet dis- 
cussion and decision were backed up by a powerful public 
opinion. The tribal lands were usually only the territory over 
which the tribe habitually ranged ; nobody "owned" land in the 
English sense of absolute property which could be transferred 
to another person. 

The Indians were often friendly, gave food, furnished guides, 
and fought on the white men's side against other tribes; but 
their chiefs had no recognized power to compel obedience, and 



lO foundations ot American History 

hence treaties with the EngUsh were always hard to enforce. 
Few Indians have come down in history as leaders of their 
people. Wahunsonacock, commonly called Powhatan by the 
Virginians, King Philip in New England, Pontiac and Corn 
Planter in the West, George Guess who invented a Cherokee 
alphabet, and later Tecumseh, Chief Joseph, and Geronimo 
the Apache, are almost the only great names. 

12. Review 

Early American history was simply a part of the history of 
the nations of Europe that made discoveries and planted colonies 
in the western hemisphere. They were aroused by that intellec- 
tual movement which we call the Renaissance, one phase of 
which was greater interest in seafaring. The interruption of 
trade with central Asia, caused by the invasion of the Turks, 
was an additional reason for trying to reach India by a new sea 
route. 

Although the Europeans were not aware of it until some years 
later, the Atlantic coast of our country abounds in broad rivers 
and good harbors. From the water line the land rises to the 
summit of the Appalachian Mountains and then descends to 
the fertile St. Lawrence and Mississippi river basins. West- 
ward the land again rises until it reaches the high Rockies, and 
the great upland beyond ; and beyond the Sierra Nevada it 
slopes down to the Pacific coast. Easy divides and passes con- 
nect the various parts of the country with one another. 

A good share of this broad land abounded in animal life, fur- 
nishing food and clothing to the natives. The Indians also had 
corn, potatoes, and tobacco, none of which were then known in 
Europe. Most of the tribes were still in the savage stage of 
civilization, though many of them lived in villages, and the 
Mexicans and Peruvians built stone cities and temples. The 
Indians provided themselves with tools and utensils. They 
were excellent warriors, but never understood how to unite 
in strong and numerous communities. 



References and Topics 17 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 3, 5, 6, 11. — Avery, U.S., I. 
— Bogart, Ecoti. Hist., 4, 5, 10, 18, 78. — Coman, Indust. Hist., front., 
3. — Epoch Maps, no. i. — Farrand, Basis of Am. Hist. — Shepherd, 
Hist. Atlas, 187, 188, 

Secondary. Bassett, U.S., ch. i. — - Becker, Beginnings, i-ij. — 
Cheyney, Europ. Background. — Farrand, Basis of Am. Hist. — Fiske, 
Discov. of Am., I. 1-147, 256-334, II. 294-364. — Hodge, Handbook 
of Am. Indians. — Morgan, Am. Aborigines. — Powell, Physiographic 
Regions. — -Shaler, Nature and Man in Am., 166-283. — Winsor, Amer- 
ica, IV. i-xxx. 

Sources. Hart, Source Book, § 9; Source Readers, I. §§ 8, 19-33, 
37-44, III. §§ 57-69. — Old South Leaflets, nos. 30, 32. — See also New 
Engl. Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, §65; Syllabus, 167-168, 293. 

Illustrative. Leland, Algonquiti Legends of New Engl. — Longfellow, 
Hiawatha. — Lummis, Strange Corners of Our Country. — Whittier, 
Bridal of Pennacook. 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., I. — Catlin, North Am. Indians. — Mc- 
Kenney and Hall, Hist, end Biography of the Indian Tribes. — Mentor, 
serial nos. 7, 34, 60, 83, 02, 113, 116. — U. S. Bureau of Ethnology, 
Reports. — Winsor, America, I. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) When and how was gunpowder first used in Europe? [§ 2] — 
(2) What were the first books printed in America? [§2] — (3) How 
did the mariner's compass come into use in Europe? [§2] — (4) What 
five harbors of North America were first located by Europeans? [§ 5] — 

(5) What are the best passes across the Rocky Mountains? [§ 6] — 

(6) What were the best waterways (with portages) from the Atlantic 
to the Mississippi? [§ 8] — (7) Indian mounds. [§ 10] — (8) The Indian 
totem system. [§ 11] 

Topics for Further Search 

(9) Adventures of Marco Polo. [§ 3] — (10) Was there ever a Sir 
John Mandeville? [§3] — (11) Prince Henry the Navigator. [§4] — 

(12) Introduction of corn, potatoes, and tobacco into Europe. [§ 9] — 

(13) Indian remains in your neighborhood. [§ 10] — (14) Ancient build- 
ings and monuments in Mexico and Central America. [§ 10] — (15) 
Peruvian roads and buildings. [§ 10] — (16) Account of one of the 
Indians mentioned in § 11. 



CHAPTER II 



THE CENTURY OF DISCOVERY (1492-1604) 



13. FORERUNNINGS OF DISCOVERY (1OOO-1492) 

Until about 1500, the existence of any western continent 
was undreamed of in Europe, although in far-off Iceland there 

were records of a 
"saga," or memorized 
tradition, telling how 
Leif Ericson — ' ' Leif 
the Lucky" — reached 
the mainland, far 
south of Greenland, 
in the year 1000. 
Another saga tells that 

\l A^ b^^'^"^ // 1 I \ "" Ti~^^'^ ^^ ^°°7 ^^^ Karlsefni 
v^'k', l^sB , /ill I \ \ / \ 1 landed there in a fine 

country, which has 
never been identified, 
abounding in flat 
stones and "wineber- 
ries" and fierce na- 
tives. No evidence 
has ever been found 
to show that Leif's 
discovery of North 
America was known 
to Italian or Spanish 
navigators. Their incentive to western voyages was the hope of 
finding a direct western route to India, especially after Barthol- 
omew Diaz of Portugal reached the Cape of Good Hope (1487) 

18 




Leif Ericson's Ship. 



Columbus the Discoverer 19 

and saw a broad sea beyond, on which ships could undoubtedly 
sail to Asia, though by a long and roundabout route. 

To Christopher Columbus, born (about 145 1) in the Italian 
city of Genoa, is due the credit of applying the science of his 
time to this problem of reaching India. Before he was thirty 
years old he formed a plan of sailing westward to Asia, which 
he calculated to be not far from 2500 miles distant from 
Europe. Directly, or through his brother Bartholomew, he 
appealed to the kings of Portugal, Spain, England, and France 
to fit him out; and all declined the splendid opportunity. 
Finally, he turned again to Spain and appealed to the zeal of 
Queen Isabella in behalf of the distant heathen, and aroused 
her counselors by depicting rich results of conquest and power. 
Isabella at last agreed to fit out an expedition in behalf of her 
kingdom of Castile. 

14. Columbus the Discoverer (1492-1502) 

Furnished with the queen's money, Columbus got together 
three little ships called caravels, the Santa Maria, Nina, and 
Pinta, carrying 90 men in all. He sailed from Palos early in 
August, 1492, and from the Canary Islands five weeks later; 
thenceforward his sole reliance was his own unconquerable will. 
When the crews threatened to mutiny unless he would turn back, 
he pleaded and threatened and even deceived them by under- 
estimating the ship's daily run. 

On Friday, October 12, 1492 (October 21 of our calendar), 
thirty-three days after losing sight of land, and then distant 
3230 nautical miles from Palos, the caravels came upon an 
island, to which, says Columbus, "I gave the name of San Sal- 
vadore, in commemoration of his Divine Majesty who has 
wonderfully granted all this. The Indians call it Guanahani." 
This landfall was probably Watling Island of the Baihama 
group. A few days later Columbus reached the coast of Cuba, 
and then Hispaniola, now Haiti. He was deeply disappointed 
not to find towns and civilized communities, for to the day 0/ 







OCEAN 



English and Portuguese Discoveries 21 

his death he supposed that he had hit on the coast of Asia. 
Thus was America discovered accidentally in the voyage of one 
of the most extraordinary men in history. 

On a second and a third voyage (1493, 1498) Columbus dis- 
covered Porto Rico, Jamaica, some of the Lesser Antilles, and 




Departure of Coliiibus. (From De Bry's Voyages, 1590.) 

the mouth of the Orinoco. He founded a colony in Hispaniola, 
including the city of Santo Domingo, but was sent home in 
chains and for a time was in disgrace. He made, however, a 
fourth voyage (1502), in search of a water passage to India, 
which carried him to the coast of Honduras and to the Isthmus 
of Panama. Four years later he died in Spain. 

15. English and Portuguese Discoveries (1493-1507) 

The announcement that Columbus had reached Asia aroused 
new national rivalries, and it was followed by many western 



22 The Century of Discovery 

voyages. Henry VII, king of England, gave authority to the 
Venetian navigator John Cabot and his three sons "to sail to 
all parts, regions, and waters of the eastern, western, and south- 
ern seas, and to discover any heathen regions which up to this 
time have remained unknown to Christians." Though this 
voyage later became the basis of the English claims to North 
America, we know only that Cabot came back in 1497 and 
reported "that 700 leagues hence he discovered land, the terri- 
tory of the grand Chan. He coasted for 300 leagues and 
landed and found two very large and fertile new islands." 
His landfall is supposed to have been the island of Cape Breton. 
The next year Cabot and his son Sebastian are supposed to have 
made a voyage farther south ; but of their discoveries, if they 
made any, we have no contemporary accounts. 

Meantime the Portuguese were trying to reach India by sail- 
ing eastward around Africa, and they claimed a monopoly of 
the discoveries that they might make. In May, 1493, the Pope 
issued a bull in which he undertook to divide the new non- 
Christian world between Portugal and Spain, by a north and 
south line through the Atlantic. A year later, in the treaty of 
Tordesillas, made directly between Spain and Portugal, it was 
agreed that the "line of demarcation" should run "from pole 
to pole, 370 leagues west from the Cape Verde Islands." The 
need of such a treaty was realized in 1497, when the Portuguese 
Vasco da Gama passed the Cape of Good Hope, and shortly 
reached India. Then Cabral, one of the Portuguese voyagers 
to India, hit on the coast of Brazil (1500), which he thought 
was an Asiatic island. Thus America would have been dis- 
covered without Columbus. Later it \vfts found that the hne 
of Tordesillas ran to the west of the Brazilian coast, which was 
therefore left to the Portuguese to settle. 

The Italian Americus Vespucius, of Venice, coasted large 
parts of South America from 1499 to 1507 in behalf of Spain and 
then of Portugal. He published several letters describing his 
discoveries and, apparently without any such expectation, fur- 



Spanish Discoveries and Conquests 23 

nished a name which gradually supplanted the term "New 
World" used by Columbus and others. An Alsatian geog- 
rapher, Hylacomylus, realizing that a new continent had been 
discovered, suggested in 1507 that the new fourth part of the 
world be called ''Amerige; that is, the land of Americus, or 
America." This name, originally applied to the eastern part 
of South America, was gradually extended to all of South 
America, and then to the entire New World. 

16. Spanish Discoveries and Conquests, to 1532 

By the year 15 13 most of the islands of the Caribbean Sea, and 
the coast from Mexico to the Plata, had been visited ; so that 
the Spaniards 



began to real- 
ize that wher- 
ever they 
sailed far 
enough west, 
they , struck 
land, perhaps 
a continuous 
continent. In 
that year Bal- 
boa crossed 
the narrow 
isthmus of 
Dar ien or 
Panama, and 
looked upon 
the Pacific 

Ocean. Since the Spaniards could not penetrate directly west- 
ward, they sent Magellan in 1519 with a small fleet to coast 
along America southward. He discovered and passed through 
the strait to which he gave his name, entered the Pacific 
Ocean, then sailed up the west coast of South America, and 




Supposed Limits of America (1530), Compared 
WITH THE Actual Outlines. . 



24 The Century of Discovery 

thence westward until he reached the Ladrones and the PhiKp- 
pine Islands. Magellan was killed in a fight with the natives, 
but one of his vessels got home to Spain via the Cape of Good 
Hope — the first circumnavigation of the globe. At last the 
true Indies had been reached by sailing west, and the Philip- 
pines speedily became a Spanish colony, regularly communicat- 
ing with the home country across Mexico. 

Meanwhile the Spanish were pushing exploration and con- 
quest within the continents, beginning with a fruitless ex- 
pedition by Ponce de Leon in Florida (1513), and a voyage by 
Pineda, who was the first to skirt the north coast of the Gulf 
of Mexico (15 19). The first permanent settlement on the main- 
land was the result of the romantic occupation of Mexico by 
Hernando Cortes in 15 19. With 556 men and 16 horses he 
marched into the country and took the fortified city of Mexico, 
smashed the rude political organization of the Aztecs, and set 
up the Catholic religion; and in 1521 he founded the province 
of Mexico. In 1532 a Spanish force of 200 men and 60 horses, 
under Francisco Pizarro, penetrated and conquered Peru, and 
looted a large quantity of gold ; here also the native government 
was overthrown and a permanent Spanish colonial government 
under a viceroy was set up. 

17. Spanish Explorations of the Coast and Interior 

(1526-1592) 

Except for these two conquests the interior of the two Amer- 
ican continents had hardly been touched by Europeans. The 
SpaniaEds now began to send exploring expeditions to and into 
the southern part of what is now the United States : (i) De 
Ayllon attempted to found a colony on Chesapeake Bay (1526) 
and thus founded a claim to what later became Virginia. (2) 
Narvaez with a party explored the land north of the Gulf coast, 
and passed the mouth of the Mississippi, probably the first white 
man to see any part of that river (1528). (3) Hernando De 



Spanish Explorations of the Coast and Interior 25 

Soto, with a force of 620 men, marched inland from the coast 
of Florida; and in 1541 reached the Mississippi and explored 
part of the present state of Arkansas. (4) In 1540 Coronado, 
incited by tales of seven rich and wonderful "cities of Cibola," 
went northward from Mexico, but found the cities to be only 
Indian pueblos, of which some are still standing. He pen- 
etrated to the country of Quivira (Kansas), which abounded in 
"crook-backed cows" (bufEaloes). (5) From 1533 to 1592 the 
Pacific coast was visited b)^ Spaniards as far north as the Strait 




Spanish Explorations in the Interior of North America. 



of Juan de Fuca ; the exploration gave them title to California 
and Lower California. 

The West Indies, as the Spanish possessions in the islands 
and the continent of the New World were generally called, 
made the Spanish kingdom for a time the richest of all European 
countries, and enabled the Spaniards for a century to take ihe 
leading place in Europe. The accumulated gold of Mexico 
and Peru was quickly swept up; but in 1545 the rich silver 
mines of Potosi, in Peru, were opened, and later good silver 
mines were found in Mexico. By 1550 Spanish colonies were 
established in Mexico and Central America, on the west and 
north coasts of South America, and on the lower Plata. 



26 The Century of Discovery 

i8. French Discoveries (1524-1565) 

Meanwhile, about twenty years after Columbus's first voy- 
age, a mighty change was begun in Europe through the Prot- 
estant Reformation. Up to this time, every nation in western 
Europe was Roman Catholic. A new faith appeared in Ger- 
many and spread to France, Italy, England, Scotland, Hun- 
gary, and the Scandinavian countries. In the end, the peoples 
of northwestern Europe became mostly Protestant, while those 
of the south remained Catholic. 

France, though mainly Catholic, ignored the papal division 
of 1493 (§ 15)- ^^ 1524, King F»-ancis I dispatched the Italian 
Verrazano, of Florence, with a fleet which crossed the Atlantic 
and explored an unknown coast including what is now New 
York Harbor, a bay, he said, in "a very pleasant situation 
among some steep hills, through which a very large river, deep 
at its mouth, forced its way to the sea." Much farther north 
the French captain Jacques Cartier explored the coast, found 
islands and a river (1534), and the next year "a, goodly great 
gulf, full of islands, passages, and entrances," which he named 
St. Lawrence; thence he entered "the great river Hochelaga 
and ready way to China." His progress was stopped by the 
rapids later dubbed Lachine ("Chinese"), near a hill which 
he called Mount Royal, now Montreal. 

A body of "Huguenots," or French Protestants, with the 
consent of the Catholic king, planted a colony under Jean 
Ribault at Port Royal, now in South Carolina (1562) ; but 
it failed. The French returned and built a second Port Royal 
on the "River May" (St. Johns) in Florida. This was a flat 
defiance of the Spaniards, who founded (1565) the frontier town 
of St. Augustine to confront the French; this town, still in 
existence, is the oldest within the mainland boundaries of the 
United States. Menendez, the Spanish governor, uprooted the 
French colony ; and the French never regained the opportunity 
of settling the southern Atlantic coast. 



English Traders and Freebooters 27 

19. English Traders and Freebooters (i 566-1 580) 

Spain's monopoly of American, trade and colonization aroused 
the spirit of the English, especially when, under Philip II 
(1556-1598), Spain became the leading Catholic power of 




SlLGRWL M\N0R, 1 NGL\ND 

(E irU home of iht W ishington 
f mil> ) 



Europe. Internal troubles arose out of the Reformation in 
England, but diminished in the reign of the Protestant Queen 
Elizabeth; and EngHsh merchants began to plan voyages 
and colonies both in the East and in the West. In despite of 
Spain a charter was granted in 1566 to Sir Humphrey Gilbert 
to open a northwest passage around America to India, and to 
discover new lands, which were to be an English colony. Sev- 
eral later explorers made voyages on the same quest, penetrating 
as far as Hudson Strait and Bay. 

One of the boldest English adventurers and bravest fighters 
was Sir John Hawkins, who made several profitable voyages 
to the Spanish colonies with African slaves. When his five 



28 The Century of Discovery 

ships were caught in a Mexican port by thirteen Spanish ships, 
he fought them all and escaped with two vessels. One of 
Hawkins's captains was Francis Drake, who in 1572 sailed off 
again to prey on Spanish commerce. Pirate-like he harried 
the Spanish mainland, captured Spanish vessels and mule trains, 
and carried off gold, silver, and merchandise. Nevertheless, 
on his return to England Drake was kindly received by Queen 
Elizabeth, who even shared in the plunder. 

The slow downfall of Spain may be said to have begun when 
the Spanish provinces of the Netherlands revolted and formed a 
union against Spain (1576). The English government sym- 




Early Voyages around the World. 

pathized with the rebels ; then individual Englishmen took an 
active part in the pulling down of Spain. In 1577 Drake, with 
the queen's approval, though without a royal commission, set off 
with a little fleet ; he rounded South America, passed through 
the Strait of Magellan with his one remaining ship, and was the 
first to see Cape Horn, and to find the open sea to the south of 
it. The story of Drake's next exploits sounds like the Arabian 
Nights, and is adorned with such phrases as " thirteene chests 
full of royals of plate, foure score pound weight of golde, and 
sixe and twentie tunne of siluer." He sailed up the unfortified 
west coast of South America, capturing Spanish coasting ships, 



First English Colonies 29 

terrifying towns, taking one prize worth a million dollars on its 
voyage from Peru, and throwing the Spaniards into a panic. 

Running far to the north, in hope of finding a passage through 
or around America to England, he put into a bay just north 
of the harbor of San Francisco to repair his ships, and called 
the country New Albion. Thence he struck boldly westward 
across the Pacific, sailed through the Philippines and the Spice 
Islands, and then home again (1580) around the Cape of Good 
Hope, the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Queen 
Elizabeth formally knighted him, and thus proclaimed him an 
English hero fighting for his sovereign. 

20. First English Colonies (i 578-1 587) 

The next step towards colonization was a vain attempt at 
planting an English settlement in Newfoundland under a new 
charter granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1578). His half- 
brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, then got from the queen a new 
"patent," or grant of lands (1584), authorizing him to colonize 
"remote heathen and barbarous lands . . . not actually pos- 
sessed of any Christian Prince." Forthwith he sent out two ves- 
sels, under Amadas and Barlowe, to find a proper place for a 
colony, and they fixed on Roanoke Island. On their return and 
favorable report Queen EHzabeth named the new land for her- 
self, "Virginia." 

Three times Raleigh sent out actual colonists to Roanoke 
Island, which was not a very favorable place. The third colony, 
commanded by John White (1587), was made up of 150 people, 
including seventeen women. One of them gave birth to Virginia 
Dare, the first English child born on American soil. Part of 
the colonists returned to England. All who remained in America 
disappeared, and their fate to this day is uncertain. 

21. War with Spain (1587-1604) 

The harrying of the commerce of Spain inevitably led to 
war, and the crisis came in 1587, when Philip II resolved to in- 
hart's new amer. hist. 3 



3b The Century of Discovery 

vade England and destroy the plague of English sea rovers at 
its source. The proposed invasion took the form of a religious 
crusade. The troops were to be carried to England by a 
mighty Spanish fleet called the "Invincible Armada." The 
Armada sailed from Corunna in 1588 — 137 vessels, carrying 

27,000 men — and 
made its way in half- 
moon formation up 
the English Channel. 
It was beset by an 
enemy as brave as the 
Spaniards and much 
more nimble ; for the 
English received their 
guests with 197 ships 
and 16,000 men, 
mostly trained sea- 
men. The Armada 
stopped at the Nether- 
lands, but the English 




English Warship of 1588. (From a tapestry 
in the old House of Lords.) 



finally sent fire ships among the Spaniards, and drove them out 
into the North Sea, where many of the fleet were destroyed. 
The rest attempted to escape around Scotland, but many were 
lost in fearful storms. The commander in chief arrived in Spain 
at last ; and gradually 67 ships out of the fleet crept into port. 
The war meanwhile had extended to the colonies, and it lasted 
for seventeen years. Drake captured and plundered the city of 
Santo Domingo, the richest in the New World, and other ports. 
The new king of Spain, Philip III, and the new king of England, 
James I, both desired peace ; but the Spaniards long insisted 
that England should agree to keep Englishmen from trading 
in the Spanish colonies, or settling in territory claimed by Spain. 
On both points the English stood firm, emboldened by their 
victory over the Armada; and in 1604 a treaty of peace was 
made without either of the desired pledges. Thus the way was 



Rival Claims to America 31 

opened for the foundation of English colonies which grew into 
the later United States, in territory then claimed by Spain. 

22. Rival Claims to America (15S4-1605) 

Gradually the coast of North America became better known, 
and the various European nations began to bring forward argu- 
ments for their claims to America. France talked about 
the effect of the voyages of Verrazano and Cartier. Spain urged 
the Pope's bull of 1493 and the early Spanish explorations, 
assuming that coasts once skirted by Spanish ships remained 
Spanish, and that the territories inland from such coasts were 
Spanish to eternity. Against these sweeping claims, the Eng- 
lish geographer Hakluyt asserted that "one Cabot and the 
English did first discover the shores about the Chesapeake " ; 
and a contemporary writer set forth the English title to Vir- 
ginia as follows: (i) first discovery by the subjects of Henry 
VII (1497); (2) voyages under Elizabeth "to the mainland 
and infinite islands of the West Indies" ; (3) the voyage of Ama- 
das and Barlowe (1584) ; (4) the actual settlement by the White 
colony (1587) ; (5) a broad and cjuite unfounded claim that the 
coast and the ports of Virginia had been long discovered, peo- 
pled, and possessed by many English. The writer said of the 
Pope's bull, "if there be a law that the Pope may do what he 
list, let them that list obey him." 

From 1602 to 1605 three attempts were made by individuals 
to plant colonies on what is now the coast of Maine, on the 
basis of these Enghsh claims. All these efforts failed ; for the 
English had not learned to bear the cold winters, and as yet had 
too little experience in colonizing. 

23. Review 

Notwithstanding voyages by the Northmen, who reached 
-the northeast part of North America, the first European to dis- 
cover and occupy western territory for a European power was 
Christopher Columbus, in 1492. He explored the West Indies 



32 The Century of Discovery 

and later coasted parts of the mainland of South America and 
the Isthmus of Panama. 

The Portuguese were already on the eve of reaching southern 
Asia by the Cape of Good Hope sea route ; and in 1494 Portugal 
and Spain agreed to a north and south "line of demarcation," 
to divide their claims. John Cabot in 1497 discovered land for 
the king of England. America received its name from an 
Italian explorer named Americus Vespucius. 

In 1 5 13 Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and saw the 
open Pacific. Six years later Magellan sailed around the 
southern end of South America and through the Pacific west- 
ward ; his expedition was the first to go around the world. 

The Spaniards made settlements in South America and Mexico, 
and explored the southern part of what is now the United States. 
They claimed all the coasts that they skirted and aU the country 
inland from those coasts ; but their claim was ignored by France, 
whose vessels explored the coasts of present New York and the 
St. Lawrence River. 

The English also disregarded the Spanish claim to sole pos- 
session, and their freebooters began to plunder Spanish ships 
and towns. They also tried to find a northwest passage to India 
around North America. In 1577, Drake, an English sea captain, 
sailed around South America into the Pacific, plundered the 
Spaniards there, and made his way back home westward. Sir 
Walter Raleigh and his friends tried to plant colonies in New- 
foundland and on Roanoke Island, but failed. 

Spain finally sent out the Armada of 1588 to crush England, 
but the great fleet was defeated; and after years of irregular 
warfare Spain and England finally made peace in 1604. By this 
time the English were firmly convinced that they had a better 
claim than any one else to part of North America. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 
Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 20, 25, 28, 63. — Avery, U.S., 
I. — Becker, Beginnings, 28. — Bourne, Spain in Am. — Coman, Indust. 
Hist., 8, — Epoch Maps, no. 2. — Semple, Geogr. Conditions, 1-18. — 



References and Topics 33 

Shepherd, ^i^^ Atlas, 105-111, 191. — Winsor, Columbus; Cartier to Fron- 
tenac, 1-76. — See U. S. Supt. of Docs., Geography and Exploration List. 

Secondary. Bassett, U.S., ch. ii. — Becker, Beginnings, 17-54. — 
Bourne, Spain in Am., chs. i-xii. — Channing, U .S., I. chs. i-v. — 
Cheyney, Earop. Background, ch. iv. — Fi^ke, Discov. of Am., I. 147- 
516, II. 1-293, 365-569; Old Va. I. 1-40. — Hovgaard, Voyages of 
the Norsemen. — Lummis, Span. Pioneers. — Markham, Christopher 
Columbus. — Parkman, Pioneers of France, 9-228. — Reeves, Find- 
ing of Wineland. — Tyler, England in Am., chs. i, ii. 

Sources. Am. Hist. Leaflets, nos. i, 3, 9, 13. — Bourne, Narratives 
of De Soto. — Hart, Contemporaries, I. §§ 16-36, 44-48; Patriots and 
Statesmen, I. 31-59; Source Book, §§ 1-4, 7. — Higginson, Am. Explor- 
ers, 1-228. — James, Readings, §§ 1-7. — Jameson, Original Narratives 
(Northmen, Spanish, English, and French). — Old South Leaflets, nos. 
17, 20, 29, 31, 33-37, 39, 71, 90, 92, 102, 115-120, 122. — Payne, 
Elizabethan Seamen. — Winship, Journey of Coronado ; Sailors' Nar- 
ratives. — See New Engl. Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, §§ 66-68; 
Syllabus, 293-296. 

Illustrative. Ballantyne, Erling the Bold (Iceland) ; Norsem.en in 
the West. — Barnes, Drake and his Yeomen. — Cooper, Mercedes of 
Castile. — Johnston, ^^V Mortimer (Sea dogs). — ■ Kingsley, Westward 
Ho ! — Longfellow, Skeleton in Armor ; Sir Hmnphrey Gilbert. — Lowell, 
Columbus; Voyage to Vinland. — Munroe, Flamingo Feather (Hugue- 
nots). — Simms, Vasconselos (De Soto). — Tennyson, Columbus. — 
Wallace, Fair God (Mexico). 

Pictvu-es. — Avery, U.S., I. — Mentor, serial nos. 13, 22. — Wilson, 
Am. People, I. — Winsor, America, II-IV. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) The English claims based on the Cabot voyages. [§ 15] — 
(2) Balboa's expedition. [§ 16] — (3) Magellan's expedition. [§ 16] — 
(4) Cortes in Mexico. [§ 16] — (5) Pizarro in Peru. [§ 16] — (6) De Soto's 
expedition. [§ 17] — (7) Cartier's voyages. [§ 18] —(8) The French 
settlements in Florida and South CaroHna. [§ r8] — (9) Adventures of 
Sir John Hawkins. [§ 19] — (ro) Adventures of Sir Francis Drake. [§ 19] 

Topics for Further Search 

(11) Life of Christopher Columbus before 1492. [§ 13] — (12) An- 
cient and medieval ideas that the world was round. [§ 13] — (13) Por- 
tuguese voyages to the coast of Africa. [§ 15] — (14) Earliest accounts 
of South America. [§ 15] — (15) Spanish silver mines in the New 
World. [§ 17] — (16) Who first discovered Chesapeake Bay? [§ 22] 



CHAPTER III 
EUROPEAN COLONIZATION (1604-1660) 
24. European Colonizing Conditions 

The year 1604 is a turning point in the history of the world 
because it marks not only the end of Spanish supremacy but 
also the beginning of a long rivalry among six European 
powers for a lodging in America. All of them expected to real- 
ize a profit from American trade ; all of them hoped that their 
colonies would aid them to hold their own in the whirlpool of 
European policy ; all of them clung to their naval power ; and 
each looked upon the colonial trade of the others as fair game 
for capture whenever a war broke out. 

(i) Spain grew steadily weaker throughout the whole period 
from 1604 to 1660, but still kept most of her colonies in 
America. (2) England established her merchants in southern 
Asia and in North America. (3) France was in rivalry with 
England all over the globe. (4) Holland, though not recognized 
by Spain as an independent nation until 1648, was actually 
a great sea power with a strong navy which several times 
defeated the English navy. (5) Sweden had considerable 
territory on the south side of the Baltic Sea, and under 
the great king Gustavus Adolphus became one of the strong 
naval and military powers of Europe. (6) Portugal was for 
half a century annexed to Spain and afterwards remained 
content with the immense area of what is now Brazil, and took 
no part in the struggles of the other five powers for American 
territory and power. 

34 



Spanish Settlements 35 

Although Spain and France were Catholic countries, and 
England, Holland, and Sweden were Protestant, no alliances 
were formed on a religious basis. The French defied the Span- 
iards, and the English fought the Dutch, without recognizing 
any ties of religion. Even so natural a combination as that 
between England and the neighboring United Netherlands, 
commonly called Holland, was never brought to pass. Each 
power struggled for itself alone, and the two weaker ones, 
Sweden and Holland, found no defenders when stronger neigh- 
bors seized their territory. 

The settlement and the political division of America were 
very little affected by the nations of eastern Europe, where, 
beyond the then powerful kingdom of Poland, a new and crude 
empire of Russia was growing up. To the south of Poland, the 
Turks had pushed their way up into the heart of Europe, and 
Austria, Hungary, and Germany were from time to time 
fighting for their national existence. They had no energy to 
spare for sending colonists westward, and the Germans thus 
missed the opportunity of planting colonies in the attractive 
New World. Then Protestant north Germany and Catholic 
south Germany joined in the terrible grapple of the Thirty 
Years' War (16 18-1648), which ruined and demoralized both 
sections. This left as the main contestants for the two Americas, 
the three western powers, Spain, France, and England. 

25. Spanish Settlements (1492-1689) 

The Spaniards had the great advantages of being first on the 
ground, of profiting by a century's experience in colonization, 
and of having fixed their settlements in rich and productive 
regions. They occupied the four large islands of the West 
Indies — Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Porto Rico — and 
such of the smaller islands as they desired. The first supply 
of native island laborers had long ago been killed out, but 
there was a lively importation of Africans to take their place, 
and with the aid of this slave labor the islands were prosperous, 



36 European Colonization 

Mexico was found to contain a very rich tropical belt and 
large amounts of arable land on the high plateau, and also 
valuable silver mines. A few settlements were made on the 
west side of Central America. Peru had silver mines, which^ 
with those of Mexico, poured forth to Spain a steady stream 
of ''plate"; that is, of silver bullion. 

Spain had a flourishing colony on the north coast of South 
America, in which Carthagena, Caracas, and Bogota were the 
principal cities. She had also prosperous colonies on the Plata, 
outside the main area of Spanish colonization. 

In all these colonies could be found walled cities, stately 
cathedrals, strong fortifications, improved harbors and ware- 
houses, and spacious mansions. The population of Spanish 
birth was as well off and quite as enlightened as the inhabitants 
of Spain. The Spanish Americans had noble parks, bridges, 
and plazas, botanic gardens, printing presses, and universities. 

The serious weakness in the Spanish colonies on the mainland 
was the presence and the influence of the natives. Every part 
of America occupied by the Spaniards was conquered from a 
considerable native population, which when overwhelmed by 
the ships and horses and armor and firearms of the white 
men, was obliged perforce to accept the new rulers. Great 
numbers of the Indians were converted and partly civilized, 
though numerous natives farther inland remained independent 
and often very hostile to the white men. Spaniards and In- 
dians united in a mixed race which had the Spanish language 
and traditions, and yet was cut off from the social and other 
advantages of the born Spaniard and his descendants of 
the pure Spanish blood. Hence it was always easy for the 
Spaniards to raise armies, which could include the half-breeds 
and Indians, but they were never willing to build up colonies 
in which all the people shared in the public life of the com- 
munity. 

During the seventeenth century the Spanish colonies were 
gaining in population and strength ; but the Spaniards showed 



The French in America 37 

a remarkable lack of interest in the northern part of their 
dominion, now occupied by the southwestern and Pacific states 
of the Union. Settlers pushed up the Rio Grande, and after 
several towns had been uprooted by the Indians, succeeded in 
1605 in planting Santa Fe. Nearly the whole of Texas was 
left to the fierce and warhke Indian tribes that the Spaniards 
found there; and until 1769, not a single settlement was made 
on the Pacific coast north of the present Mexican territory. 
Excepting the feeble little town of St. Augustine, there were 
no Spanish settlements in Florida or on the north coast of 
the Gulf of Mexico. 

26. The French in America (1603-1632) 

The boldest and most successful American explorers during 
this second century of colonization in America were the French. 
They did not set out to fill the country with settlements or to 
build up rich cities. Their main purpose was to make a profit 
out of the one product of northern North America which was 
then highly prized in Europe, namely, the furs. Therefore 
they ignored the claim which they might have made on the 
basis of Verazzano's voyage of 1524, but followed out the later 
discoveries of Cartier on the St. Lawrence. The heavily for- 
ested country which stretched indefinitely westward from the 
St. Lawrence abounded in fur-bearing animals, particularly 
the beaver, the fur of which was largely used for the making 
of hats. The French controlled the island of Newfoundland be- 
cause it was a convenient basis of operations in their fisheries. 
They looked upon Nova Scotia with favor, partly because 
of the rich inshore fisheries. The brilliant French king Henry 
IV revived some of the ancient claims, and in 1603 began 
a systematic colonization which lasted till the defeat of the 
French by the English in 1763. 

As in the earlier French attempts (§ 18), the leading spirit 
was a Huguenot. The Sieur de Monts received a royal patent 
for the land between the fortieth and forty-sixth parallel? 



38 European Colonization 

(that is, from the latitude of Philadelphia almost to that of 
Quebec), which was named Acadie (map, page 40). Under this 
patent, which gave him the sole right to trade in Acadie, De 
Monts made a temporary settlement on Passamaquoddy Bay 
(1604) and others of his party settled Port Royal, later called 
Annapolis by the English. Then his agent, Samuel de Cham- 
plain, founded Quebec (1608), which is the first French settle- 
ment in North America that has had a continuous existence. 

In 1606 the king of England, flatly disregarding the French 
claims, granted to some of his subjects the right to make settle- 
ments as far north as the forty-fifth parallel (the latitude of 




Champlain defeating the Iroquois, 1609. (From Champlain's 
Voyages, 1613.) 

Halifax). Efforts were also made to plant colonies on the Maine 
coast not far from the earliest French settlement. The French 
paid no attention to the English claims, and Champlain, who 
was the most brilliant and most successful of French explorers 
and colonists, boldly pushed into the interior. Soon after 
settling at Quebec he joined a war party of Algonquin Indians 
in an excursion up the water now called Lake Champlain, where' 
they fell in with a band of fierce and hostile Iroquois. Cham- 



The Dutch and the Swedes 



39 



plain's firearms quickly dispersed the strangers in a panic, and 
he thus laid the foundations of hatred and dreadful warfare be- 
tween the French and the Five Nations. In 1611 he founded 
Montreal, and a few years later was the first European to reach 
the shores of Lake Huron and of Lake Ontario. 

A settlement made by French Jesuits on the island of Mount 
Desert in 16 13 was forthwith the scene of the first armed conflict 
between the French and the English on American soil. Captain 
Argall from the English colony of Virginia, which had been 
founded a few years before, descended upon Mount Desert and 
carried away the French settlers. A few years later England 
went so far, during a war between England and France, as to 
capture Port Royal and Quebec. Nevertheless, by the treaty 
of St. Germain (1632), which was the first European agreement 
as to American boundaries, the English formally acknowledged 
the rightful title of France to "New France, Acadia (Acadie), 
and Canada"; that is, to 
the present Nova Scotia 
and the lower St. Law- 
rence valley, with the 
country between. In re- 
turn, the English were to 
be undisturbed in their 
new colonies of Plymouth 
and Massachusetts. 

27. The Dutch and the 
Swedes (1609-1655) 

The year i6og, when 
Champlain fought the 
Iroquois on the shores of 
the lake (§26), was marked 
also by another important 
event in American historv. 




Old Dutch Hoi 



40 



European Colonization 




New Netherland and Neighboring Settlements. 

In that year Henry Hudson, sailing under the flag of Holland, 
discovered and explored the magnificent river which now bears 
his name. In 1614, a Dutch company built the trading post 
of New Amsterdam, on the site of the present city of New 
York; but the first permanent town there was built twelve 
years later. 

A new and enterprising Dutch West India Company, which 
received a monopoly of the Dutch trade in America in 1621, 
laid a broad foundation for a colony which was called New 
Netherland. Agents of that company planted little trading 
posts on the Connecticut River (Fort Good Hope), on Long 
Island, on the upper Hudson River or "North River" (Fort 
Orange, now Albany), and on the "South River," as they called 
the Delaware. Great land grants were assigned to Dutch 
"patroons," gentlemen wh© were to bring out their own settlers 
and to establish a sort of feudal system. 



The Five Nations 41 

Sweden contested the Dutch claims by sending a colony of 
Swedes and Finns who settled on the lower Delaware at Fort 
Christina (now Wilmington). The colony was not well sup- 
ported by the home company, and in 1655 it was seized 
by the Dutch of New Amsterdam. The conditions seemed 
favorable for a permanent Dutch colony, occupying the best 
part of the North Atlantic seacoast. 

28. The Five Nations 

French and Dutch alike speedily learned that the way from 
the coast to the interior with its valuable furs was held by the 
powerful confeder- 
acy of the Five 
Nations of Iroquois 
— the Mohawks, 
Oneidas, Ononda- 
gas, Cayugas, and 
Senecas. Their 

territory stretched 
along central New York, where they lived in villages 
made up of log cabins called "long houses." Though they 
never numbered more than ten thousand people, of whom 
two thousand or three thousand were warriors, their war 
parties were a terror as far east as Boston, as far south as Vir- 
ginia, and as far west as Illinois. 

Though constantly reduced by desperate fighting and disease, 
they kept up their numbers by adopting prisoners. Their 
internal organization was weak, for there was only a loose con- 
federation among the tribes ; and if the young men wanted 
to go to war, they made up a party, including members of one 
or more tribes, or of all the tribes, and went their way, without 
orders or discipline. 

The worst enemies of the Iroquois were their own fierce- 
ness, disease, and the white man's rum. Like other Indians, 
they suffered fearfully from smallpox, which ran its course till 




Iroquuis Long House. 



42 European Colonization 

often whole villages were depopulated. As to the effects of 
liquor, an eyewitness says: "They were all lustily drunk, 
raving, striking, shouting, jumping, fighting each other, and 
foaming at the mouth like raging wild beasts. And this was 
caused by Christians!" 

29. The French in the Interior (i 634-1 660) 

As the Iroquois were hostile to the French (§26), they were 
disposed to be friendly to the Dutch; and the Dutch made 
the most of their opportunity for trade with that powerful body 
of Indians. The natural route of the French traders up the 
St. Lawrence, through Lake Ontario and Lake Erie to the 
west, was easily blocked by the Iroquois. Hence -the French 
used the Ottawa route from the St. Lawrence to Lake Huron 
(map, page 11). Many Hurons and other Indians were con- 
verted by the tireless Catholic missionaries. In 1634 the trader 
Jean Nicolet reached Lake Michigan; a missionary, Father 
Allouez, discovered Lake Superior in 1665. Before long, French 
traders opened up an overland route from Lake Superior to 
Hudson Bay and brought down rich supplies of furs. 

Meanwhile the French missionaries were making heroic, 
though on the whole unavailing, efforts to Christianize the 
Iroquois. Father Isaac Jogues's account of his experience as 
a prisoner gives a frightful picture of his captors, who seemed 
to him like demons ; they leaped upon him like wild beasts, tore 
out his nails, and crunched his fingers with their teeth ; his 
attendant Hurons were tortured on a scaffold in the midst of 
the Iroquois village; yet the heroic priest "began to instruct 
them separately on the articles of the faith, then on the very 
stage itself baptized two with raindrops gathered from the 
leaves of a stalk of Indian corn." Rescued by the Dutch, this 
brave and self-sacrificing man returned and plunged a second 
time into that misery, and died a martyr's death. The 
Iroquois long remained a barrier to western exploration. 



First Permanent English Colony 



43 



30. First Permanent English Colony (1607-1612) 

While the French and the Dutch were founding their North 
American colonies, the English were at the same time planting 
settlements in Virginia and New England. The early English 




^ .^-_ London Company"1606 

''y Plymouth Oompnny 1606 

Vtirginia Charter of 1609: 

C' Cud s^ Lines probably intended by 
k'UH_)Uth '-West and Northwest" 
' ^ ^^ ^ Later Virginia Claim under 
V „ Charter of 1009 
4r- 4.^,.-j<,+ New England Charter 1020 



English Territorial Grants. 

attempts to found a colony 
in Virginia (§ 20) had been 
in defiance of the Spaniards, 
who claimed the Atlantic coast 
from Florida indefinitely north- 
ward. These attempts were 
renewed in 1606 under a royal 
charter issued by King James 
I, which created two corporations: (i) The so-called Plymouth 
Company was to make a settlement somewhere between the 
thirty-eighth and forty-fifth parallels. (2) The London Com- 
pany was to colonize somewhere between the thirty-fourth and 
forty-first parallels. The Spanish government looked upon the 
scheme as an attempt to plant a naval station for the vexation 
of Spanish commerce. The Spanish ambassador at London 



44 European Colonization 

suggested to his master, "It will be serving God and Your 
Majesty to drive these villains out from there and hang them" ; 
but sloth, poverty, and hesitation to renew the war held back 
the Spaniards from anything stronger than protest. 

The Plymouth Company never made a permanent settle- 
ment; but on May 13, 1607, a party of one hundred and four 
emigrants, sent by the London Company, selected a peninsula 
on the James River for a settlement which they called James- 
town. The spot was one of the least favorable in that fine 
country; it was low, marshy, mosquito-cursed, unhealthful, 

and hard to defend from 
the Indians, who attacked 
it within two weeks. 

The little colony was 
badly managed from the 
first. In the course of 
two and a half years, 630 
immigrants came out, of 
whom 570 died forthwith ; 
yet the founders of Vir- 
ginia did not lose courage. 
The company reorganized 
in 1609, under a second 
charter granting a specified 
tract, extending two hun- 
dred miles each way along 
the coast from Old Point 
Comfort, together with 
"all that Space and Circuit 
of Land, lying from the 
Sea Coast of the Precinct aforesaid, up into the Land through- 
out from Sea to Sea, West and Northwest." In 161 2, by a 
third and last charter, the company was reorganized and re- 
ceived larger powers of control of its own affairs. 

In the midst of distress and death in the early days of Vir- 




Captatn John Smitj ix 1624. (Fiom 
the title-page of hi5 Generall Historic.) 



Development of Virginia 45 

ginia, one spirit shone briglilly. It was Captain John Smith, 
who alternately pacified and fought the Indians ; who found 
supplies, explored the country, and was the principal man in 
the little government. Later in life Smith told a believing 
world that he was once taken prisoner by the Indians, who were 
about to beat out his brains ; whereupon Pocahontas (then a 
child of ten or twelve years), daughter of the great chief Pow- 
hatan, sprang between him and the club and saved his life. 
Whether this story be true or imagined, the courage and ability 
of Smith are undeniable. 

31. Development of Virginia (16 13-1650) 

The London Company spent on Virginia the immense sum 
of £100,000 in twelve years, and at the end of that period 
the colonists numbered only 400. The company became en- 
tangled in English politics, and passed into the control of op- 
ponents of royal power. In 1619 it authorized the meeting of 
a popular assembly in Virginia — the first free representative 
government in America. Accordingly twenty-two "burgesses," 
elected from the various settlements of Virginia, met in the 
church at Jamestown, and drew up numerous laws for the col- 
ony. The year 1619 also marks the beginning of the African 
slave trade in the English colonies. A Dutch man-of-war in 
Virginia exchanged twenty negro slaves for provisions; and 
thus began a new source of labor for the cultivation of tobacco, 
which quickly became the main industry of Virginia. 

In 1623 the Indians arose and killed nearly 350 settlers-; and 
the tragedy gave point to enemies of the colony in England, 
who assailed it as a swampy, pestilential, ill-housed, and dreary 
place, where "tobacco only was the business." In 1624, by 
the judgment of the Court of King's Bench, the Virginia 
charters were held null and void. Thereafter Virginia had 
only such a go-^ernment as the king chose to set up; but the 
governors whom he appointed were instructed to call elected 
a3scrD.blics, and Virginia never lost this privilege of partial 
hart's new amer. hist. — 4 



46 European Colonization 

self-government. The colonists learned how to live in a new 
country, and by 1650 they numbered about 15,000. 

32. Puritans and Pilgrims (i 604-1 660) 

Early Virginia was simply a commercial speculation, pushed 
by the wealthy stockholders of a powerful company. The 
next English colony in America was founded by poor people 
who were looked upon with suspicion by their own govern- 
ment. During the reign of EUzabeth there grew up within the 
established Church of England a body of so-called Puritans, 
who felt that the Reformation had not gone far enough ; and 
out of the Puritans arose a body of "Separatists" (later called 
Independents), who would not remain in that church. Under 
James I, many Puritan ministers were deprived of their right to 
hold services ; the Separatist congregations were broken up ; and 
about three hundred of the Separatists took refuge in Holland. 

A God-fearing and industrious folk, the exiles found themselves 
strangers in Holland, and feared that their children would not 
hold to their faith. Under the advice of their pastor, Rev. John 
Robinson, about two hundred who were later called "Pilgrims" 
made up their minds to seek a place of settlement in Amer- 
ica. Their friends in England lent them about £5000, and 
they obtained from the London Company a patent for lands 
to be located somewhere within the general bounds of the sec- 
ond charter of that company. After many difficulties, about a 
hundred of the Pilgrims left the harbor of Plymouth, England, 
on the ship Mayflower, bound for the Hudson River country. 
After three months of stormy voyage they found themselves 
just off Cape Cod, which was part of the territory of the old 
Plymouth Company, and in a region already named New Eng- 
land. Since they had no patent for lands in that region, those 
on board the Mayflower drew up a brief "compact" (November 
II, 1620), by which they agreed to organize as a "civil body 
poUtic" for their government after they should land; and they 
chose John Carver to be governor. 



Massachusetts 



47 




E Ma y flower. (From a model in the 
National Museum, Washington.) 



After exploring the coast 
the Pilgrims decided to 
settle on the bay already 
called Plymouth Harbor, 
and landed December ii, 
1620 (December 21, new 
style), near a great bowl- 
der now called Plymouth 
Rock. The season was 
cruelly hard, and during 
the first winter half the 
colonists died from cold, 
poor food, and other hard- 
ships. The next season 

others came out, and thenceforward the little colony pros- 
pered. The people paid their debt due in England out of their 
fishery and Indian trading business. They set up the first 
town meetings in America, and later organized a repre- 
sentative assembly (1639). In the seventy-one years of 
its existence as a separate colony, Plymouth never had a 
charter or a royal governor. Yet it hardly knew internal 
strife ; it was at peace with its neighbors ; it showed that 
Englishmen could prosper in the cold climate of the north- 
eastern coast ; it established in the New World the great 
principle of a church free from governmental interference, and 
founded on the will of the members. Above all, the Pilgrim 
Fathers handed down to later generations priceless traditions 
of strength, manliness, patience, uprightness, and confidence in 
God. 

33. Massachusetts (1629-1634) 

In 1629, some merchants and country gentlemen, most of 
them Puritans who still adhered to the Church of England, 
secured from King Charles I a charter issued to the "Governor 
and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England." 



48 European Colonization 

Their territory was to extend from a line three miles north of 
the Merrimack River to a line three miles south of the Charles 
River, and was to reach westward to the South Sea (Pacific 
Ocean). 

The company had behind it abundant means and energy, 
and fifteen of the stockholders agreed to go out to Massachu- 
setts. They took their charter with them, as their authority 
for holding a ''general court," or stockholders' meeting, in order 
to carry on their affairs thousands of miles away from the 
inquisitive English government. In 1630 a thousand people 
landed on the shores of Massachusetts Bay, and the work 
of the government of the company was started under the 
governorship of John Winthrop. They found in existence 
several little towns, which were soon brought under the au- 
thority of the company. 

Although King Charles was furious at the unexpected trans- 
fer of the charter from England to Massachusetts, the colony 
grew rapidly, and in ten years increased to nearly 3000 people. 
Within a few months the colony became self-sustaining, raising 
its own food, and shortly it had a surplus of fish and timber 
and furs to send to England. It was also able to build up a 
system of government which made it almost an independent 
republic. 

(i) The written charter was speedily found to be a kind of 
constitution which was well suited to the needs of the people ; 
and to it was added a little code of laws called the "Body of 
Liberties." 

(2) The government was genuinely popular, for the governor 
and "assistants" formed a kind of council elected every year 
by the "freemen," that is, the members of the company; and 
the principal inhabitants were made members. In 1634 the 
people demanded and received an elective general court, and 
the assistants became an upper house. 

(3) The settlements were made in villages, each governed 
in local affairs by its own town meeting. 



Maryland 



49 



34. Maryland (1632-1650) 

Hardly had Massachusetts been settled, when a southern 
colony was chartered under Catholic influence. In 1632 
King Charles granted 
to Lord Baltimore, 
head of the Calvert 
family, a charter for 
a colony called Mary- 
land after Queen Hen- 
rietta Maria. It was 
bounded on the north 
by the ''fortieth degree 
of latitude," on the 
east by Delaware Bay 
and the ocean, on the 
south by the Potomac, 
and on the west by 
a north and south 




Original Extent of Maryland. (Light 
dashes indicate present state boundaries.) 



line drawn through the source of the Potomac. 

This charter was of a new type, for both the land and the 
powers of government were transferred to Calvert as a "pro- 
prietary"; and he had authority to make laws for the colony, 
provided the freemen of the colony assented. Although not 
distinctly so stated in the charter, it was understood that 
Catholics would be allowed in the province ; and in 1634 a body 
of colonists, both Catholic and Protestant, settled first at St. 
Marys and then elsewhere. The Calvert family was rich 
and powerful, and sent out many emigrants ; the soil was fer- 
tile, tobacco growing soon became the main industry, and 
slaves were introduced. 

In an early contest with the proprietor the assembly success- 
fully asserted its right to initiate — -that is, to propose — laws. 
The most significant statute was the Toleration Act of 1649, 
which distinctly declared that "no person . . . professing to 



50 European Coionization 

believe in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth be anywaies 
molested, or discountenanced ... for his religion nor in the free 
exercise thereof." Under this act, neither Catholics nor Prot- 
estants could be persecuted for their faith. Protestant settlers 
were already outnumbering the Catholics, and with the arrival 
of new settlers the colony speedily became distinctly Prot- 
estant in feeling. 

35. Connecticut and New Haven (163 5-1 660) 

South of Massachusetts was a belt of country which at- 
tracted the Dutch and the Plymouth people, both of whom 
built forts on the Connecticut River. In 1635 a little settle- 
ment was made at Saybrook, at the mouth of the river. The 
next year came a body of settlers from Massachusetts, headed 
by Rev. Thomas Hooker, who founded the towns of Hartford, 
Windsor, and Wethersfield on the Connecticut River (map, 
pige 52). In 1639, representatives of these three little towns, 
feeling the need of a common government, met at Hartford 
and drew up the "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut," the 
first detailed constitution made by a self-governing American 
community for itself. 

Meantime, the colony of New Haven was forming in like 
manner out of separate communities. The town of New Haven 
was founded in 1638 by Theophilus Eaton and Rev. John 
Davenport. In 1643 it united with several other little towns 
in a common colonial assembly. 

Both colonies were founded among warlike Indians. The 
Pequot tribe grew threatening, as they saw their hunting 
grounds invaded by the English. Captain John Mason, of 
Connecticut, with 90 armed white men and 400 Narragansetts, 
attacked the Pequots not far from the present Stonington, 
Connecticut, and stormed their fort (1637). As the chron- 
icler puts it, "Downe fell men, women, and children, those 
that scaped us, fell into the hands of the Indians, that were 
in the reere of us . . . not above five of them escaped out 



Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire 51 

of our hands." This cruel and merciless massacre terrified 
the remnants of the tribe and gave peace for nearly forty 
years. 

36. Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire 
(1623-1652) 

(i) Neither Connecticut nor New Haven had any authority 
from the Crown to carry on a colony ; and another settle- 
ment was made on the same terms, or rather, lack of terms, in 
Rhode Island. This colony was founded by Roger Williams, a 
Massachusetts minister who took it upon himself to deny the 
right of any government to prescribe religious belief for its citi- 
zens. He was therefore banished from Massachusetts (1636), 
and betook himself to the wilderness of Narragansett Bay, where 
he secured land from the Indians and founded the town of 
Providence. Soon after, he still further antagonized Massa- 
chusetts by joining the Baptist Church, which was then bitterly 
persecuted both in England and in the colonies. Other little 
towns were founded at Portsmouth and Newport, and with 
Providence they secured an English patent (1644) under which 
they governed themselves and elected a common assembly and 
governor. Emigrants gathered and the little community called 
Rhode Island became prosperous, although heartily disliked by 
its neighbors. 

(2) North of Massachusetts, one Ferdinando Gorges tried to 
build up a colony in what is now Maine, but this territory was 
annexed by Massachusetts in 1652. 

(3) Farther south in the region north of the Merrimack, 
several little towns were founded at Dover, Exeter, and else- 
where, from 1623 to 1638. For a time they had a govern- 
ment in common, something like that of Rhode Island; then 
the people became a part of Massachusetts ; and finally they 
received a government of their own under the name of New 
Hampshire. 



52 



European Colonization 



37. Effect of the Civil War in England (1642-1655) 

The stream of immigrants into New England was suddenly 
checked in 1642 by the breaking out of war between King 
Charles I and the Puritans who had control of Parliament. 
In 1649, the Parliamentary army under Oliver Cromwell be- 
came the virtual government of England, and Charles I was 
executed by the Puritans. The Independents, who had about 
the same religious belief as the New England Congregationalists, 
came into control and supported Cromwell till his death in 1658. 




The New England Confederation. 

The colonists were left mostly to themselves during the civil 
war, and in 1643 the four colonies of New Haven, Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, and Plymouth formed a federal union under 
written "Articles of Confederation." The visible government 
was made up of two commissioners from each colony, meeting 
from time to time. This New England Confederation existed 



Religion in New England 53 

for more than forty years and was very helpful to New England. 
it kept the Dutch in check, fought the Indians, and was inter- 
ested in the general improvement of the colonies. Its consti- 
tution was so good that traces of it can be found in the Consti- 
tution of the United States. 

Cromwell did not interfere with the New England colonies, 
but he sent a fleet (1652) which compelled Maryland and Vir- 
ginia to accept the authority of the Puritan Parliament. He was 
the first ruler of England to lay down a commercial policy for 
the protection of trade with the Enghsh colonies; in 1651 he 
secured the first "Navigation Act," which was intended to cut 
down Dutch trade. 

Cromwell also saw the importance of reducing the colonial 
power of Holland and of Spain. He compelled the Dutch to 
withdraw from the Connecticut valley, and in 1655 his fleet 
captured the island of Jamaica from the Spaniards, and it has 
ever since remained English. This was the beginning of the 
break-up of the Spanish American empire. 

38. Religion in New England (1620-1660) 

Considering that so many of the New England colonists 
came over in order to have the privilege of worshiping God 
according to their own consciences, it is remarkable how un- 
willing they were that other people should worship God accord- 
ing to their consciences. Massachusetts made it a point to 
repress those who differed from the established Congregational 
Church or criticized the clergy. In 1636 Mrs. Anne Hutchin- 
son of Boston and others — -the so-called " Antinomians " — ■ 
held women's meetings to discuss and to dissect the latest ser- 
mons. She was put on trial, not for establishing the first 
Woman's Club in the country, but for heresy. Notwithstand- 
ing a valiant defense in which she had the better of her judges, 
she was dismissed from the church and sent into exile. 

The same illiberal spirit was shown toward the English sect 
called Quakers, founded (1648) by George Fox as a protest 



54 European Colonization 

against religious ceremonies and control. The Quakers, or 
Friends, used plain speech, were rigid in their customs, had no 
regular ministers, and would not take oaths or use force, even 
in defense of their country. Though a folk of singularly blame- 
less lives, they were harassed in England. When two God- 
fearing Quaker women reached Boston, their doctrines were 
officially declared to be "heretical, blasphemous, and devilish." 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth, as well as Mary- 
land and Virginia, hastened to pass laws for the severe punish- 
ment of Quakers and "ranters." From 1659 to 1661 four of 
them were executed in Boston. The Quaker episode is a proof 
that the good and pure principles of the Puritans did not keep 
the community from tyranny and stupid cruelty. The Quakers 
neither harmed nor seriously threatened the good order of the 
colonists ; they were persecuted because they ventured to differ 
from the usual religious and political practices. 

39. Review 

Six European powers gained a footing in America : Spain, 
Portugal, France, Holland, Sweden, and England. Germany 
was too exhausted by religious wars to take part in the contest 
for the New World. 

The Spaniards held most of the islands of the West Indies and 
the coasts of North and South America, and easily overcame the 
opposing Indians. The Portuguese were satisfied to hold Brazil. 

The French, against English protests, sought the St. Law- 
rence region because of the valuable fur trade. Their first great 
explorer, Champlain, fought against the Iroquois. 

The Dutch made settlements on the Connecticut, Hudson, 
and Delaware rivers. The Swedes settled on the lower Dela- 
ware, but their little colony was soon annexed by the Dutch. 
Between the French and the Dutch lay the warlike Five Nations, 
to avoid whom the French used the Ottawa River route to Lake 
Huron ; and so discovered Lakes Michigan and Superior. 

An English colony was founded by the London Company at 



References 55 

Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. One man, Captain John Smith, 
showed himself a natural leader. In 16 19 the first popular As- 
sembly met ; but in 1624 the Virginia charter was taken away. 

The first settlement in the region called New England was that 
of the Pilgrims, who came to Plymouth in 1620 and set up a little 
colony. Massachusetts, planted in 1630, quickly developed 
a popular government. Maryland was settled by Lord Balti- 
more, a Catholic nobleman, but numerous Protestants also 
came in. Connecticut, New Haven, 'Rhode Island, and New 
Hampshire were four little Puritan colonies built up without 
any charter. Settlements in Maine did not prosper. 

During the civil war in England, four of the colonies formed 
a New England Confederation (1643). Cromwell captured 
the island of Jamaica (1655), and this was the first inroad 
on the Spanish empire. The Puritans soon found themselves 
troubled by those who disagreed with the majority on religious 
matters, and severely treated the Antinomians and Quakers. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. ii, 20, 40, 43, 49, 52. — Avery, 
U.S., II. — Epoch Maps, no. 3. — Coman, Indiist. Hist., 28, 34. — 
Sample, Geogr. Co)iditioiis, 19-35. — Shepherd, Hist. Atlas, 185, 189- 
193. — Tyler, England in Am. 

Secondary. Bassett, U. S., chs. iii, iv. — Becker, Beginnings, 54- 
70, 80-119. — Bourne, Spain in Am., chs. xiii-xx. — Channing, U. S., 
I. chs. vi-xix. — Fiske, Old Va., I. 41-318; Beginnings of New Engl., 
50-198; Dutch and Quaker Cols., 1. 80-242. — Innes, New Amsterdam. 
— Parkman, Pioneers, pt. iii; Jesuits in Am.; Old Regime; Pontiac, 
I. 7-28, 46-68. — Thwaites, Colonies, §§ 13, 18-22, 28-34, 48-68, 83, 
S4, 108-110; France in Am., chs. i-iii. — Tyler, England in Am. — 
Weeden, New Engl., I. 23-46; Early R. I., chs. i-iii. — Wilson, Am. 
People, I. 34-68, 74-218. 

Sources. Am. Hist. Leaflets, nos. 7, 16, 25, 27, 29, 31, 36. — Bogart 
and Thompson, Readings, i-ii. — Caldwell, Survey, 13, 29-32. — 
Golden, Five Indian Nations. — Hart, Contemporaries, I. §§ 37-41, 
49-142 passim, 150-154, 158, 169-171; Patriots and Statesmen, I. 61- 
116; Source Book, §§ 5, 6, 8, 10, 13. — Higginson, Atn. Explorers, 231- 
316. — James, Readings, §§ 8-14, 20. — Jameson, Original Narratives. 



56 European Colonization 

— MacDonald, Select Charters, nos. 1-21. — Old South Leaflets, nos. 
7, 8, 48-5I) 53-55, 66, 69, 77, 87, 91, 93, 94, 96, 121, 142, 143, 153, 154, 
164, 167-170, 176, 178, 207. — See New Engl. Hist. Teachers' Assoc, 
Hist. Sources, §§ 69-71; Syllabus, 297-305, 309, 310. 

Illustrative. Austin, Standish of Standish; Betty Alden (Plymouth). 

— Child, Hobomok (Plymouth). — Cooke, My Lady Pokahontas ; 
Stories of the Old Dominion, 1-64. — Curtis, Indian Lays of Long Ago.- — 
Dix, Christopher Ferringham (Quaker). — Doyle, Refugees (Canada). — 
Eastman, Lndian Boyhood. — Hawthorne, Maypole of Merry Mount; 
Endicott and the Red Cross; The Gentle Boy (Quakers) ; Grandfather's 
Chair, pt. i, chs. i-vii. — Holland, Bay Path (Connecticut). — John- 
ston, To Have and to Hold (Va.). — Longfellow, Courtship of Miles 
Standish; John Endicott. — Motley, Merry Mount. — Faulding, Konigs- 
marke (Swedes). — Stedman, Peter Stuyvesant^s New Year's Call. — 
Stimson, King Noanett (Mass. and Va.). — Tenney, Constance of 
Acadia. — Thruston, Mistress Brent (Md.). — Whittier, John Underhill; 
The Exiles; Banished from Massachusetts ; King's Missive. 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., II. — Wilson, Am. People, I. — Winsor, 
America, III, IV. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Why did Spain grow weaker after 1604? [§ 24] — (2) Adven- 
tures of Champlain. [§ 26] — • (3) Early accounts of New Amsterdam. 
[§ 27] — (4) Early explorations of one of the following lakes: Huron; 
Michigan; Superior. [§ 29] — (5) Why was there such loss of life in 
the early Englisli colonies? [§ 30] — (6) Adventures of Captain John 
Smith. [§ 30] — (7) Tobacco planting in Virginia. [§ 31] — (8) Early 
accounts of one of these colonies: Virginia [§ 30]; Plymouth [§ 32]; 
Massachusetts Bay [§ ^:i\; Connecticut. [§ 35] — -(9) Was there real 
religious toleration in Maryland? [§ 34] 

Topics for Further Search 

(10) The Pueblo Indians as the Spaniards found them. [§ '25] — 
(11) The Pueblo Indians to-day. [§ 25] — (12) Why were the Five 
Nations so important? [§ 28] — (13) Catholic missions in the Great 
Lakes region. [§ 29] — (14) What was meant by " up into the Land 
throughout from Sea to Sea, West and Northwest" ? [§ 30] — (15) Was 
the Pequot War justified? [§ 35] — ■ (16) What did the New England 
Confederation accomplish? [§ 37] — (17) Was Mrs. Anne Hutchinson 
justly condemned? [§ 38] — (18) Why were the Quakers so unpopu- 
lar? [§ 38] 



• CHAPTER IV 

ENGLISH COLONIZATION AFTER 1660 

40. The Taking of New Netherland » 

In 1660 peace and union came back to England under the 
"Restoration" of Charles II as king, and the nation entered 
on a new career of conquest and colonization, both in the 




Water Front of New York in 1673. (Drawing by Hugo Allard.) 

eastern and in the western hemisphere. By creating the East 
India Company (1660), the English laid the foundation of an 
empire in India and Ceylon in opposition to the Portuguese, 
Dutch, and French. In the west, their colonies were already 
far stronger than the Dutch possessions. 

57 



58 English Colonization after 1660 

New Netherland was a feeble and ill-managed commercial 
community, numbering less than 10,000 Europeans. The Dutch 
West India Company, which controlled the colony, was chiefly 
interested in the Indian fur trade. Contentions arose between 
the company and the settlers ; and the last of the Dutch 
governors, Peter Stuyvesant, found that he had little means 
of defense for the colony and no intelligent support. 

On the basis of vague claims upon the whole Atlantic coast, 
King Charles II granted the region occupied by the D itch to 
his brother James, Duke of York. A fleet was sent out to which 
the little town of New Amsterdam surrendered (Aug. 20, 1664). 
The rest of the colony fell without a blow ; and the name New 
York was applied to the former New Netherland. During a 
later war with England, a Dutch fleet occupied the place for 
a few months in 1673 ; but from that time on, the Dutch never 
held any territory in America, except a little settlement on the 
north coast of South America and some small islands iri the 
West Indies. 

41. Charters and Colonies in the North (1662-1665) 

The taking of New York was part of a systematic policy for 
the colonization of the whole coast from Maine southward. In 
fact, the greater part of Maine was included in the grant to the 
Duke of York, but it was eventually bought for a second time 
by Massachusetts (§ 36). 

The king smiled upon Connecticut (§ 35), and in 1662 granted 
to it a favorable charter — the first and last charter that the 
colony ever had — with bounds extending to the South Sea. 
New Haven was incorporated into Connecticut, as punishment 
for harboring two of the " regicides " who had condemned Charles 
I to death (§37). Rhode Island (§ 36) also received a charter 
in 1663, giving it about its present boundaries and a liberal 
government with an elective governor. Plymouth received no 
charter, but was allowed to remain separate nearly thirty years 
longer. 



Charters and Colonies in the North 



59 



Even before the Duke of York got possession of his magnifi- 
cent proprietary domain, he began to cut it up into smaller 
provinces. In 1664 he granted to Berkeley and Carteret the tract 
between the Hudson River and the Delaware, and they called it 
Nova Caesarea — which is, in English, plain New Jersey. 
Ten years later the new province was divided into East New 
Jersey and West New Jersey. The rich soil and the ease oi 
access speedily attracted population; a contemporary said, 
" 'Tis far cheaper living there for Eatables than here in England ; 
and either men or Women who have a Trade, or are laborers, 
can, if industrious, get near three times the Wages they com- 
monly earn in England." The Quakers fixed their attention on 
the Jerseys. Two of them, Fenwick and Byllynge, gained con- 
trol of West Jersey, and many Quakers settled there. Then a 
body of proprietors, 
including William 
Penn, secured both 
the Jerseys. 

Through these vari- 
ous changes, by 1665 
the English govern- 
ment had recognized 
in the coast region 
east of the Delaware 
River (i) the three 
charter colonies of 
Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, and Rhode 
Island ; (2) the pro- 
prietary colonies of 
New York and New 
Jersey; (3) the un- 
chartered or irregular settlementsof New Hampshire, Plymouth, 
and Maine, the last two of which eventually were absorbed by 
neighbors. 




SV''^"''^ NANTUCKET I 
t" 16910 






T5o ido 



Lands of the Duke of York. (With dates 
of cession of outlying portions.) 



6o 



English Colonization after 1660 



42. Organization of New York Colony (i 664-1 686) 

It was no easy matter to fit the new territory and colony of 
New York into the general English system. In the first place, 

the territorial grant was clumsy 
and conflicted with previous 
charters. The Duke of York's 
grant extended to the Con- 
necticut River, though both 
the Massachusetts charter of 
1629 and the recent Connec- 
ticut charter of 1662 granted 
to those colonies strips of terri- 
tory as far west as the Pacific ; 
that is, directly across New 
York. The boundary between 
New York and Connecticut 
was soon agreed on, but that 
between New York and Massa- 
chusetts remained unsettled 
for n:ore than a hundred 
years. 

To govern the colony of 
New York, the Duke sent out 
Governor Nicolls. He found 
many Dutch in the Hudson 
valley, a few Swedes west of 
the Delaware, and some New 
Englanders in Long Island. As the Duke did not desire anything 
like popular government, Nicolls drew up a code called "The 
Duke's Laws." Some of the towns vainly tried to join Con- 
necticut. Nicolls gave a charter to the city of New York in 
1665, the officials of which, however, were to be appointed. 
A later governor, Dongan, in 1686 was authorized to call an 
elective assembly. Dongan also granted to New York and 




1664. 



Scheme for a New England Colony 6i 

to Albany city charters with elective aldermen. These were 
the first popular city governments to be created in the New 
World. 

43. Scheme for a New England Colony (1685-1689) 

Massachusetts was looked upon as an insubordinate colony 
which must be disciplined. During the civil wars in England, 
the colonial government had acted like an independent republic, 
even venturing to coin silver "pine-tree shillings" ^ — -a great 
presumption for a colony. Under strong pressure from Eng- 
land, the colony grudgingly repealed its harsh and brutal laws 
against the Quakers, allowed services of the Church of England, 
and admitted others than Congregationalists to the suffrage. 

New troubles arose because immediately after the Restoration 
the English government put into operation a system of "Acts 
of Trade," or Navigation Acts, already begun under Cromwell 
(§ 37). Their prime purpose was to prevent the Dutch from 
carrying on a profitable trade with English colonies in the West 
Indies and the mainland. They provided that most of the trade 
of the colonies should be with England, and that colonial trade 
with England should be transported only in English or 
colonial vessels. To carry out these laws (1660, 1663, 1673) 
customhouses were set up in the colonies, and very low duties 
were laid on imported goods ; the customhouse formality 
made it possible for the British government to keep track of the 
vessels arriving and departing. 

The Acts of Trade, often called the "Colonial System," 
gave many advantages to colonial shipbuilders, but were 
usually disregarded by all the colonies, and particularly by 
Massachusetts. For this and other offenses the English 
government made up its mind to punish that colony by taking 
away the charter. Much the same method was followed as in 
the case of Virginia in 1624 (§ 31). An English court held that 
the Massachusetts people had violated their charter and that, 
therefore, it was no longer binding on the Crown (1684). 
hart's new amer. hist. — 5 



62 English Colonization after 1660 

The colony had recently suffered from the devastation of an 
Indian outbreak, commonly called King Philip's War (1675), 
in which most of the frontier towns were destroyed. When in 
1685 the Duke of York became King James II, he set out to 
consolidate all the New England colonies into one group. Sir 
Edmund Andros was appointed to carry out this plan under a 
commission as governor-general of the Dominion of New 
England. The weak colonies of Plymouth and Rhode Island 
yielded. Connecticut refused to give up its charter and, 
according to tradition, the document was hidden in a hollow 
oak tree in Hartford. Nevertheless, the scheme would have 
succeeded but for the breakdown of King James in England, 
which will be discussed further on. 

44. The Southern Colonies (1663-1729) 

South of the James River several small settlements were made 
on Albemarle Sound and the Chowan River by wanderers 
from Virginia, from New England, and from the West Indies. 
In 1663 England incorporated this region with her dominions 
in North America, by granting to a body of eight noble propri- 
etors, land for a new colony of Carolina (named for Charles II). 
The first Carolina patent extended from the 31st to the 36th 
degree of north latitude, and west to the South Sea. In 1665, a 
second patent added strips of territory southward to the 29th 
degree, and northward to 36° 30'. 

The English philosopher John Locke was requested by the 
proprietors to draw up a "Fundamental Constitution" often 
called "The Grand Model," which was to estabhsh a kind of 
feudal system in CaroUna. This constitution never went into 
effect; instead, a popular assembly was organized (1669) and 
governors were sent out by the proprietors. 

A settlement was made on the Ashley River (1670), which 
developed into the town of Charleston. Around it the colony 
of South Carolina grew up, separated by many miles of wilder- 
ness from the settlements in North Carolina. Scotch, Quakers, 



The Southern Colonies 



63 



and Huguenots came in. In the course of thirty years twenty 
thousand people gathered in the two CaroHnas, including large 




Carolina and Georgia Grants. 



numbers of negroes ; for the rice plantations of South Carolina 
gave opportunity for profitable slave labor. 

Virginia made no resistance to the creation of Carolina, 
though it included some of the territory which had been assigned 
to the old colony in the charter of 1609 (§ 30). During this 
period Virginia was steadily gaining in population, and the 
chief industry was still tobacco raising. The worst Indian war 



64 



English Colonization after 1660 



for half a century caused the massacre of 300 settlers. A 
planter, Nathaniel Bacon, took the lead in fighting the Indians, 
and then headed an insurrection against the harsh and waste- 
ful government of the royal governor, Sir William Berkeley. 
He burned Jamestown, set up a government of his own (1676), 

and might have altered 
the history of the colony 
but for his sudden death 
and the consequent melt- 
ing away of his party. 
To one of the rebels 
Berkeley remarked, "Mr. 
Urummond ! you are very 
welcome. I am more glad 
to see you than any man 
in Virginia ; you shall be 
hanged in half an hour." 
Drummond and thirty- 
five others were executed. 




BULL-l'RIXGLli IIulSl,, CllARLESTUN. 

(Built about 1760.) 



No wonder King Charles recalled Berkeley in disgrace, exclaim- 
ing, "That old fool has hanged more men in that naked 
country than I have done for the murder of my father." 

Maryland (§ 34) shared in the tobacco planting, and under the 
easy government of the proprietary family, passed successfully 
through several little insurrections which long plagued the 
colony. 

45. Pennsylvania and Delaware (1681-1701) 

Notwithstanding all the charters and grants of the period 
from 1660 to 1680, one of the fairest portions of the New 
World was still left unoccupied. This was the broad and 
diversified country west of the Delaware River, in which the 
only evidence of civilization was a few Swedish and Dutch 
settlements along the river. To fill up this gap, and thus to 
complete the belt of coast colonies, a royal patent was issued in 



Pennsylvania and Delaware 65 

1681 to William Penn, a leading Quaker, for a colony which 
was named by the king in compliment to Penn's father 
"Pennsylvania." The province was to extend five degrees of 
longitude westward from the Delaware. The northern part of 




iV / V I R G I 






Pennsylvania Boundary Controversy. 



the grant covered territory included in the Connecticut charter, 
which was nineteen years older ; and on the south it cut into 
the territory of Maryland, which was forty-nine years older : 
so that Pennsylvania came into existence in the midst of several 
spirited boundary controversies, which were not settled for 




William Penn. (From an ivory 
by Bevan.) 



66 English Colonization after 1660 

many years. In addition, the territory now in the state of 
Delaware was bought by Penn from the Duke of York. 

As in Maryland and New York, the ownership of the land 
in the new colony, and also the right to provide a govern- 
ment, were put in the hands 
of a proprietor. Penn sent 
over many colonists, and for 
a time made his own home 
in Pennsylvania. He saw the 
desirability of a popular gov- 
ernment and therefore (1682) 
granted what he called the 
" Frame of Government," 
which was practically a liberal 
constitution. His two prin- 
ciples were "First, to terrify 
evildoers : secondly, to cherish 
those that do well ; . . . I know some say, let us have good 
laws, and no matter for the men that execute them : but 
let them consider that though good laws do well, good men 
do better." A city government was set up for Philadelphia, 
which in 1691 received a charter with mayor and aldermen. 

Yet even in this elysium the settlers were discontented ; they 
felt that the proprietor kept too much for himself, and they began 
to quarrel with the governors. In 1701 Penn granted a new plan 
of government called the "Charter of Privileges," in which' the 
legislature received greater powers. At Penn's death (1718), he 
left the rights and dignity of his proprietorship to his children ; 
and they remained in the hands of the family down to the 
Revolution. 

46. Colonial Reorganization (1689-1752) 

James II of England followed the example of his father, 
Charles I, in provoking a conflict with Parliament. He was a 
Catholic, and many of his subjects invited his nephew, the 



Colonial Reorganization 67 

Protestant William III of Orange, the head of the Dutch nation, 
to take his place. James fled the kingdom ; and in February, 
1689, the two houses of Parliament declared that he had 
abdicated and that William III of Orange and his wife Mary, 
James's daughter, were lawful king and queen of England. 
Under them and their successors occurred several changes in 
the make-up of the English colonies. 

In New England, Governor Andros (§ 43) was deposed, and 
the three main colonies were formally restored to the old sys- 
tem of self-governing charters. Under the new charter given 
to Massachusetts (1691), Maine and Plymouth were both 
included without objection on their part. Connecticut and 
Rhode Island continued under their former liberal charters, 
and were the only communities in any part of America which 
were allowed to elect their own governors (§ 41). New Hamp- 
shire was restored as a separate royal "province" — that is, a 
colony like Virginia without any charter ; but it was allowed a 
considerable degree of self-government through a legislature (§31). 
Thus the number of New England colonies was fixed at four. 

The home government had a strong prejudice against the 
proprietorships of the middle colonies. New York was turned 
into a royal province when the Duke of York became King 
James II in 1685. For a short time under William III, both 
Pennsylvania and Maryland were deprived of their charters, 
but eventually they were given back to the Penn and Calvert 
.families. Delaware became a separate proprietary colony, no 
! longer a part of Pennsylvania. The proprietors of the Jerseys 
(§ 41) gave up their rights in 1702, and those two colonies were 
then united in the single royal province of New Jersey. In 
1729, likewise, the Carolina proprietors (§ 44) surrendered 
their claims, and thus North Carolina and South Carolina be- 
came royal provinces. 

Stricter navigation acts were passed (§ 43) and a board, 
called the Board of Trade, was created in England to act as a 
colonial office and keep in touch with what was going on. 



68 English Colonization after 1660 

More than one hundred years after the founding of Virginia 
and Massachusetts, the colony of Georgia was set up (1732) under 
James Edward Oglethorpe, a man of philanthropic spirit, whose 
purpose was to build up a Christian commonwealth in the 
New World. The territory granted to the trustees for Georgia 
was bounded on the north by the Savannah River, and on 
the south by the Altamaha, and nominally it extended west- 
ward across the continent to the South Sea, in defiance of 
French and Spanish claims. The first settlement was made at 
Savannah in 1733. Besides colonists from England, Protestant 
exiles came from the principality of Salzburg in the Austrian 
Alps ; and German Moravians, Protestant Scotch Highlanders, 
and Jews soon moved in. 

The three fundamental principles of the new colony were 
that slavery should not be permitted, that rum should be ex- 
cluded, and that there should be complete religious toleration. 
Still the colony was not prosperous ; the colonists insisted on 
the removal of restrictions concerning slavery and rum ; and the 
trustees, disappointed in both the moral and the pecuniary 
returns for their investment, surrendered their proprietorship 
to the home government (1752). 

47. International Rivalries 

The progress of the English colonies was not accepted by 
either France or Spain as a permanent thing. The Spaniards 
in 1670 made a treaty which acknowledged the existence of 
the English colonies; but they began to attack the Caro- 
linas almost as soon as the little settlements were planted. By 
setting up the Hudson's Bay Company (1670), England came 
into a new rivalry with the French for the highly valuable fur 
trade of the country tributary to Hudson Bay (§ 29). New 
York was hemmed in by the Iroquois ; but the territory of 
Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas extended beyond the 
Appalachian Mountains to the unknown waters of the in- 
terior, which the French were the first to explore. Sooner or 



International Rivalries 69 

later there was bound to be a clash over the possession of 
the splendid country west of the mountains. 

By the year 1689, the decided contrasts in the governments 
and the Indian pohcies of the three powers were clearly shown. 
The large and populous Spanish colonies were ruled strictly by 
governors who took their orders from Spain. The Indians 
under Spanish rule were little better than slaves. The trade of 
the Spanish colonies, including that from the Philippine Islands, 
was a monopoly of the merchants of the single port of Seville ; 
and their commerce was regulated by a royal council called 
the Casa de Contractacion, or "House of Trade." Most of the 
export and import business was concentrated on the Isthmus 
of Panama, whence year after year for more than two centuries 
sailed the "plate fleet" which carried to Spain gold and silver, 
Asiatic products, and colonial exports. In comparison with 
this system of restriction, the English navigation acts (§ 43) 
were mildness itself. 

The French got on with the natives better than any other 
colonizing people, because they were willing to meet them half- 
way. They lived on terms of peace and almost of intimacy with 
their Indian subjects, and many French frontiersmen took 
squaw wives. Soon arose a distinct class of "coureurs de 
bois " — white men and half-breeds who had adopted the 
Indian dress and manner of life. Canada, like the Spanish 
colonies, was governed from overseas. It was substantially a 
big military camp, made up of weak little settlements, which 
existed mainly for the fur trade ; even the French permanent 
colonists were chiefly peasants, who had no ambition for self- 
government. 

The English despised the Indians, and sooner or later killed 
off the tribes or drove them westward. The individual colo- 
nists had large opportunities for making a living, were of an in- 
telligent class, and had partial self-government, which during 
such times as the English civil war amounted almost to inde- 
pendence. 



70 English Colonization after 1660 

48. Review 

After the civil war in England, the monarchy was restored 
under Charles II, and his government decided to seize the Dutch 
colony of New Netherland. The king granted to his brother, 
the Duke of York, the country between the Connecticut and 
Delaware rivers, and also Maine. The Dutch colony was easily 
taken by the English, and renamed New York. The new 
colony was governed by a code called "The Duke's Laws." 

The next step was to make a plan for a New England colony, 
by fo'xing Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island to 
give up their charters arid come under one government. Massa- 
chusetts was weakened by King Philip's War, lost its charter in 
1684, and was for a time governed by Sir Edmund Andros. 

A new rolony was chartered south of Virginia in 1663, and 
was later subdivided into North Carolina and South Carolina. 
Virginia was harassed by Indian wars which led to the short- 
lived Bacon Rebellion in 1676. Another new colony was 
Pennsylvania, chartered in 1681, with William Penn, a 
Quaker, as proprietor. Delaware was added to it, and later 
separated. Penn drew up a kind of constitution called the 
"Frame of Government," and gave a charter to Philadelphia. 

The downfall of James II in 1689 was followed by various 
changes in the colonies, so that they finally numbered twelve. 
A thirteenth colony, Georgia, was founded in 1732. 

Of the three great colonial groups that were planted in 
America, the Spanish colonies were governed by orders from 
Spain, and their trade was much restricted. The French had 
little local government, but got on well with the Indians. The 
English allowed the colonists many privileges of self-government, 
but never fraternized with the Indians. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 59, 63, 65. — Andrews, Col. 
Self-Govt. — Avery, U.S., III. — Becker, Beginnings, 134. — Greene, 
Provincial Am., 6, 252. — Shepherd, Hist. Alias, 190-193. 



References and Topics 71 

Secondary. Ashe, No. Carolina, I. chs. v-xvii. — Bassett, U. S., ch. 
V. — Bruce, Oglethorpe. — Channing, U. S., II. chs. i-vii, xii. — Fiske, 
Beginnings of New Engl., 199-278; Dutch and Quaker Cols., I. 243-294, 
II. 1-61, 99-208; Old Va., II. 45-116, 131-162, 270-308,333-336. — 
Mathews, E.xpansion of New Engl., ch. iii. — McCrady, So. Carolina, 
I, II. chs. i-v. — • Sharpless, Quaker Experiment. — Wendell, Cotton 
Mather, 21-87. — Wertenbaker, Va. under the Stuarts, chs. v-vi'ii. 

Sources. Am. History Leaflets, no. 16. — ^ Bogart and Thompson, 
Readings, 11-20. — -Hart, Contemporaries, I. §§ 42, 43, 54, 70, 71, 76-81, 
104, 116, 121-126, 132-136, 155-157, 160-167, 172, II. §§39-44; 
Patriots and Statesmen', I. 1 16-126, 134—147, 183-186; Source Book, 
§§ 22-27. — Jameson, Original Narratives. — MacDonald, Select Charters, 
nos. 24-49, passim. — Old South Leaflets, nos. 21, 22, 88, 95, 155, 171, 
172. — See New Engl. Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, §§ 70-72; 
Syllabus, 301, 310, 313. 

Illustrative. Butterworth, Wampum Belt (Penn.). — Bynner, 
Begum's Daughter (Leisler). — Catherwood, Story of Tonty. — Cooper, 
Wept of Wish-Ton-Wish (Philip); Water Witch (N.Y.). — Goodwin, 
White Aprons (Bacon). — Green, Young Pioneers (La Salle). — Haw- 
thorne, Gray Champion (Andros) ; Grandfather's Chair, pt. i, chs. viii, 
ix. — Johnston, Prisoners of Hope (Bacon). — Kennedy, Rob of the 
Bowl (Md.). — Seton, Charter Oak. — Simms, Cassique of Kiawah 
(S.C.). — Whittier, Pa. Pilgrim. — Wilkins, Heart's Highway (Va.). 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., II, III. — Wilson, Am. People, I. — Winsor, 
America, III, IV. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Life in New Amsterdam about 1660. [§ 40] — (2) Early life 
in New Jersey. [§ 41] — (3) History of "The Duke's Laws." [§ 42] — 

(4) Why did Locke's " Fundamental Constitution " fail? [§ 44] — 

(5) Early slavery in South Carolina. [§ 44] — (6) Life of William Penn, 
down to 1681. [§ 45] — (7) Plans of James Oglethorpe. [§ 46] — (8) Hud- 
son's Bay Company to 1750. [§ 47] — (9) The Spanish " plate fleet." [§ 47] 

Topics for Further Search 

(10) Story of the early British East India Company. [§ 40] — 
(11) How were the charters obtained for Connecticut and , Rhode 
Island? [§ 41]. — • (12) Were the Acts of Trade a good thing for the 
colonies? [§ 43] — (13) Was Sir Edmund Andros a tyrant? [§ 43] — 
(14) Was Nathaniel Bacon a patriot? [§ 44] — (15) Boundary between 
Pennsylvania and Maryland. [§ 45] — (16) Board of Trade. [§ 46] — 
(17) German and Moravian colonists in Georgia. [§ 46] 



CHAPTER V 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE (1689- 1763) 
49. Colonial Population 

We are interested nowadays in the development of the Eng- 
Hsh colonies, because we know that they finally came together 
in the federal Union under which we live. The colonists 
themselves were not much interested in their own history. 
They lived like their descendants, from one day to another: 




Boston in 1722. 

going to church — some of them going to prison, — building, 
working, traveling, fighting, marrying, and dying. 

Everywhere the population grew rapidly. Though New Eng- 
land received hardly any direct immigration after'the beginning 
of the English civil war (§ 37), by 1700 it had about 105,000 
inhabitants. The southern colonies (Maryland, Virginia, and 
the Carolinas) together had about 110,000; the middle col- 

72 



Colonial Home Life 73 

onies (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware), 
55,000 ; making a total of about 270,000 people. The largest 
towns were Boston, with about 7000 people, and Philadelphia, 
with 4000. By 1763, the population had grown to about 
1,770,000, of which the New England group contained about 
510,000, the middle group 460,000, and the southern group 
(including Georgia in addition to the earlier southern colonies) 
about 800,000. Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, the 
only large towns down to 1763, varied from 15,000 to 20,000 
people each. 

Many races combined to make up this population, but it is 
now impossible to know how many there were of each, except 
in the case of tlie negroes. In every colony the largest element 
was of English descent. There may have been 25,000 descend- 
ants of Dutchmen in New York and on the Delaware in 1700. 
A few Swedes and Finns (§ 27) still remained on that river, 
and a small Swedish immigration continued there. A few 
Huguenots could be found in almost all the colonies, and they 
were numerous in South Carolina. The negroes in 1700 were 
about 46,000, and in 1763 had increased to perhaps 300,000. 
The Indians had nowhere fused with the white population, and 
were not considered members of the community. 

The two most important non-English races were the Ger- 
mans and the Protestant Scotch-Irish, to whom may be added 
some Catholic Irish and some Scotch Highlanders. The Ger- 
mans — nearly all of them Protestants — came mostly from 
the Rhine region, with a few from Austria ; most of them lived 
in Pennsylvania, a few in Maryland, Georgia, and central 
New York. They are supposed to have been about 100,000 
in number in 1763. The Scotch-Irish were about 125,000, and 
most of them lived in Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, and Georgia. 

50. Colonial Home Life 

The greater part of the colonists lived in easily constructed 
log houses. In New England there were many frame buildings, 



74 



Social and Political Life 



clapboarded or shingled. In the towns and in the Dutch and 

German villages, there were more substantial houses of brick. 
Among the poor families, the rude 
furniture was hardly more than floor, 
seats, and tables, all made of "punch- 
eons," — that is, of split halves of small 
tree trunks, ^ — ^with a few pewter dishes, 
a fireplace, and its utensils. The better 
houses had substantial oaken chests, 
chairs, and tables, and handsome 
clocks. 

In dress our well-to-do forefathers 
followed as closely as they could the 
English fashions of elaborate suits of 
cloth or velvet or silk, and full-bottomed 
wigs. The most common materials were 

homespun linen and woolen, though on the frontier deer-skin ■ 

was used. 

Food abounded : game wandered in and out of all the 




German (Moravian) 
Earthenware Stove. 




A Hand Loom. 



Colonial Education 75 

Settlements, shellfish were abundant, and the New England coast 
fisheries provided a regular supply of salt fish ; Indian corn 
was grown everywhere, and there was plenty of wheat flour. 

The colonies were swept by diseases, chiefly due to igno- 
rance and uncleanliness, such as "ship-fever," "small pocks," 
"yellow fever," "break-bone fever," "fever and ague," and 
other varieties of malaria ; and medical practice was lamentably 
unskillful. 

51. Colonial Education 

Though England was a land with numerous town schools 
and several world-famous universities, some of the colonies in 
America, broken up into separate and widely distributed plan- 
tations, could not maintain many schools. Governor Berkeley 
reported (1671) for Virginia: "I thank God there are no free 
schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hun- 
dred years ; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy, 
and sects in the world, and printing has divulged them, and 
libels against the best government. God keep us from both.'- 
The New England towns established the first schools in north- 
eastern America, though closely followed by the Collegiate 
School of the Dutch Reformed Church in New Amsterdam 
(1633). The colony of Massachusetts Bay showed its interest 
in education by requiring that every town of fifty families 
should maintain a school, and every town of a hundred families, 
a grammar school (that is, a Latin school) ; but the towns too 
frequently avoided the responsibility if they could, and no 
public education was provided for the girls. In 1689 the Penn 
Charter School was founded in Philadelphia. 

Three small colleges provided higher education for the col- 
onies. Harvard College, named from the Rev. John Harvard, 
its earliest private benefactor, was founded (1636) "to advance 
learning and perpetuate it to posterity." From the beginning 
it trained the ministers, and also had as students future men 
of affairs and statesmen. William and Mary College was es- 



76 



Social and Political Life 



tablished in Virginia (1693) ; King William III, the colony, 
and private subscribers united to give the college a home in 
Williamsburg. Yale College was "first concerted by the 
ministers" (1701), and its earliest property was forty volumes 
given by the fouiiders for a library. The college was soon re- 
moved from Saybrook to New Haven, and (171S) received its 
name from Elihu Yale, a public-spirited Englishman who 
interested himself in the new institution. 

52. Colonial Literature 

Among all the colonizing races could be found men of learn- 
ing : Puritan divines, like Increase Mather and Jonathan 
Edwards ; Dutch schoolmasters, such as Dominie Bogardus ; 
German ministers and literary men, such as Pastorius and 
Christopher Sower. One of the earliest historical writings was 
Beverly's History of Virginia (1705). In addition, the English 
books of the time were read and admired in the colonies. 

The most notable colonial writers of the seventeenth century 
were the discoverers, explorers, and colonists who wrote en- 



rXhe Bofton News-Letter. 



|DubUQ)tD lyp ^iittjo^iti^. 



i /-V it.-f.fjf? trjm Oi<t«»--'>. »J- tov*- '7 »• . f'^'™ »'| *'"« 1>- iiJti* 'Oi.t th.7 hjvt-Kopetof 

^ ^ . "".'•fO'-f '"M^ "••»•". oh^cr*.lcihcy would ncvct 

Litttiditn'Sci'UiJhno^u: the <-. r>' '■'■ l'^- Ui::-.Fud.nt; jnti he gvvj Rcl.jni lor lili Ap- 

oituretlaulyl'riottd there, Inut-l-d, •< JitU-'lftij th.t tht FfrtW-VLIng nwv fmd Troops 

f::./.%4tf, ■jlU.mfnbf^Ur.i. I' '• ^'""" "■•'"i'cr ih^i Wtaicr, t. Becujt.thr F.;^UJ'- it Diacb 

f:m *U<titm*m ia lit Citj," l^'^'''^ •" *i"n« thrn beat Scaiuopp.it- t>:.,m ■ i.Hcw 

t.V Owrw. c«««imj i^/"/"-* '^'o" ihcn Wt (jure them, the .S^. !;,ri •-[ AOion beyond 

j Xigi.- "i 1 I't r.^f/vw li'l^O'-'-^ bra K-iiift over. }. 1 hr Kxpt-a.tion given hin' ofa. 

■?'•■• Cccrtikfl Nwc'-, Tli'U'J'P I" '"■-'■"^'•'' toiiliJi-niblc number to jovn then, niiy inrounge 

i OBI •^ .uh. thiTtiKV rritixB mot-: avowcdl/ ihin jijm to the uiidcn.s;.;;!;' v.ak fe*cr klcn.if he can 

'shirty kod thv of Lite m. :iv X'-^r^s t f Vnelh & butlcnil over a (uiKiicnt number ot Ogkcrs witb 

ftj-aVii roinaiHltVr from tW*, a.id gone to Araii and Ainrnun tic,,.. -- , 

'Si\.,.-th 10 tiKj.i t;'''""^' *■■ "thirpl.<ics ot rise He tndcavofr? in the reft of hi Lcners to an* 

Sj;^1 ITiM-tite MmilkcVs of ihc Hi>iUlin;.'s ^'''1 J'«'-r ihe ijoUlh Pretences of the Prerendef's being 

i«ti "i-jre ill brge Lifts of iheci 10 the f ■.iiim c- a I'rotelhnt.and tbjt he \^-i!l govern us according 

•ttf* thaGcncxal AffcQlbl/, to bck'id before d;c to Law. Me layj.tlyt King br.d up in the Reli. 

VKa-Cajtv-il . ' fji^" -"id Politicks oTi-'-^"^'- he is by Education «. 

• l(*il(.-« fe olifervct, that J preat Nor^'.^T of •)■ ;i.>ted Enemy to our L'bTt/.nnJlli.ligion. 'Thic 

J^jill-iftiasttlJciibfuircCDnur '^X"^ froM I '.i""", thejJJbiiguiions whic_h he :;ntl^_hi» fjmilj; ovjc, to 

Part of a Page of the First American Newspaper, 1704. 



Colonial Literature 



77 



tertaining accounts of their experiences. Thus John Smith 
and WilUam Strachey wrote about Virginia ; and WilUam 
Bradford and John Winthrop each left an admirable historical 
account of the colony in which he was governor and leader. 
In the South, the writer of greatest Hterary merit was Colonel 
William Byrd, who left in manuscript a charming book of travel 
called History of the Dividing Line. In the middle colonies, 
till Benjamin Franklin came, the 
only man who can be called a 
Hterary light is William Penn; 
but the Moravians were great 
printers, and issued the first com- 
plete Bible, except Eliot's Indian 
Bible, published within the col- 
onies. The first newspaper in 
the colonies, the Boston News 
Letter, appeared in 1 704 ; and the 
trial of John Peter Zenger in New 
York (1735) established the im- 1 the mighty God upon: 
portant principle that a journalist *^S"™fil^t£.*'^*'°*'''™ 
cannot be convicted of libel for 
publishing the truth. 

Works o*f fiction were unknown, 
except as serious writers set down 
neighborhood gossip ; but there 
were several writers of poor verse. 
The Bay Psalm Book, the first 
book printed in the English 
colonies (1640), was made by a syndicate of ministers, whose 
poetic gifts may be shown by the facsimile on this page. 

The favorite literature for educated men was theological and 
controversial. The most famous writer of this kind was Cotton 
Mather, a Boston minister, long the leading man of New Eng- 
land, who wrote an enormous and confused folio which he 
called Magnalia Christi Americana. The two most popular 
hart's new amer. hist. — 6 



PSALME Ix», hit. 
that 1 to thcc hivc paA: 
tlieit heritage that fearc iliy name 
to tnee thou given haft. 
6 Thou to the dayesofihe Kings life 
wilt make addicion: 
his yearcs as generatioiv 
andgeiKtation. 
; Bcfote the face ofthefttong God 
he (hall abide for aye: 
doe thou mercy & ttuth pteparc 
that him prcfttvc they may. 
I So then I will unto thy nirae 
fing prayfe perpetually, 
thit I the vowes which I have made 
may pay cdntinually. 
Pfalme 6* 
To the diicf raufician,to Ieduthui\ 
a pfalme of David. 



t He only is my rod(,& my 
falvation^uisliee 
that my defaicc is, fo that I 
njov'd greatly thai! not bee. 
J How long will yee mifchief devift 
'gainft manjbc llainc yee (hall) 
all ycc are as a totti'ing fence, 
((like a bowing wiJI. 
4 Yet they confult to cart him downe 

^^ O a from 

A Page from the Bay Psalm 
Book. 



78 



Social and Political Life 



books in the colonies were the New England Primer, with its 
pious doggerel and rude woodcuts, which went through many 
editions and was often given as a school prize ; and Wiggles- 
worth's Day of Doom, which was learned by heart by hundreds 
of persons. It is a fearful description of that gruesome place, 

" Where God's fierce ire kindleth the fire, 
and vengeance feeds the flame, 
With piles of wood and brimstone flood, 
that none can quench the same." 



53. Benjamin Franklin 




Benjamin 1''rankll\ i_\ 1700. 
by Martin.) 



(After a painting 



The most dis- 
tinctly intellec- 
tual man of this 
period, and also 
the greatest polit- 
ical leader, was 
Benjamin Frank- 
lin, who was born 
in Boston in 1706, 
and settled in 
Philadelphia in 
1723. Franklin 
was a good print 
er, and the first 
American jour- 
nalist widely read 
in the colonies. 
Throughout his 
life he was in- 
terested in educa- 
tion, and he ren- 
deredgreatservice 
to science by 
discovering that 
lightning is the 



Benjamin Franklin 79 

same thing as the discharge of electricity produced by friction. 
He was also the inventor of the useful Franklin stove, a kind 
of little movable fireplace. 

Frankhn was appointed deputy postmaster-general for the 
colonies in 1753 and greatly improved the service. In 1757 
he was sent to England 
as agent of the colony of 
Pennsylvania, and re- 
mained there five years. 
Gradually other colonies 
noticed his influence with 
British statesmen and 
gave him a similar com- 
mission. He was a keen 
and caustic writer, and 
his satires on social and 
political matters, such as 
his Rules for Reducing a 
Great Empire to a Small 
One, had powerful effect. 
His Poor Richard's Al- 
manac was an annual, 
abounding in shrewd, 
common-sense observations ; it was widely read throughout 
the colonies. 

The chief merit of Franklin was that his great mind saw 
how much the colonies could do if they would only act to- 
gether. He showed a willingness, very uncommon in the colo- 
nies, to sink local differences and interests for the common 
good; and in England he impressed the leading men with 
respect for himself and for the colonies which he represented. 
Franklin personified the colonist of the second half of the eight- 
eenth century who looked upon himself as no longer an Eng- 
lishman living overseas, but as an American, with no pur- 
pose or desire but to remain a colonist. 




The Franklin Stove. (Invented in 1744. 
Called by its inventor the "Pennsylvania 
Fireplace.") 



8o Social and Political Life 

54. Colonial Religious Life . 

Franklin, though born in New England, never concerned 
himself with the creed of the New England Puritans, whose 
theology was built on the writings of the great Genevese, John 
Calvin (died 1564). This great divine's favorite doctrine was 
"predestination"; that is, he thought that the whole human 
race was doomed to perdition, except as God might "elect" 
a few persons to be saved. Hence good deeds, contemptuously 
called "filthy rags of works," could not in themselves save any- 
body. Even such heads of the church as Cotton Mather were 
tormented by the fear that after all they might not be "elect." 
On the other hand, Calvin set forth the great doctrine of "free 
will" — of choice between good and evil, with its emphasis on 
personal duty and responsibility. 

The Church of England, or Episcopal Church, which held 
milder doctrines of salvation, was now gaining ground. It 
was made the official church, supported by public taxa- 
tion, in Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and parts of New 
York, though aided also by voluntary contributions. In 
1689 the first "King's Chapel" was built in Boston as a 
place of Episcopal service. The Congregational Church was 
supported by public taxation in New Hampshire, Massachusetts 
(including Maine and Plymouth), and Connecticut. In the 
other five colonies there was no state church. 

Side by side with the established churches lived many other 
religious sects. The Baptists were settled chiefly in Rhode 
Island; the Presbyterians, some English and some Scotch, in 
the middle and southern colonies ; the Dutch Reformed Church 
in New York; Lutherans, Moravians, Mennonites, and other 
German sects in Pennsylvania ; English Catholics in Mary- 
land ; Quakers and a few Jews in most of the colonies. In Rhode 
Island and Pennsylvania there was practically toleration for 
every form of Christian belief; and after 1689 there was no 
religious persecution anywhere in the colonies. 



Witchcraft Episode 




Old Swedes' Church, Philadelphia, Built in 17C0. 

Both in the North and in the South, many of the church build- 
ings were handsome and commodious. In New England the 
able-bodied population was required to go to service, where 
pews were carefully assigned according to the social position of 
the attendants. In the sermons — two on Sunday and a third, 
the ''Thursday lecture," during the week ^ — -our forefathers 
received a good mouthful of doctrine, though two hours and 
a half was thought too long for a sermon. No hymns were 
allowed, only the Psalms lined out by the minister. Sunday, 
commonly called Sabbath, lasted from sundown on Saturday 
to sundown on Sunday, and in strictness was as near a Jew- 
ish Sabbath as the conditions permitted. 

55. Witchcraft Episode (1692) 

All the colonies shared in the fearful belief, then current 
throughout the world, that human beings could become 



S2 Social and Political Life 

"witches," and could make a personal compact with the devil 
which would enable them to change their shape, to travel on the 
wings of the wind, and especially to bring bodily harm to 
their enemies. But nowhere else in the civilized world did 
this awful delusion play so little part as in the American colo- 
nies, though there were a few cases of the execution of witches. 
In Europe thousands of innocent persons suffered torture and 
death — often by fire — for crimes of "witchcraft" which no 
one could commit. 

In 1692 several girls, including the daughter of a minister 
near Salem, Massachusetts, accused an Indian slave woman, 
Tituba, of bewitching them. In a few weeks scores of the 
"afflicted" were accusing their neighbors of the foulest crimes 
and most improbable orgies. A special court was set up for 
the trial of the accused. The principal testimony was the 
"spectral evidence " — that is, the assertion of the "afflicted" 
that they had consorted with witches and had seen things 
invisible to others. Nineteen alleged witches were hanged, 
and one was pressed to death by heavy weights for refusing 
to plead guilty or not guilty. 

To save themselves, the so-called witches accused other 
people, and so the number rolled up till more than fifty people 
were so crazed that they confessed to being witches, and told 
preposterous stories of flying through the air on broomsticks, 
of taking part in "devil's sabbaths," and of tormenting their 
neighbors. When Lady Phips, wife of the governor, was 
accused, the prosecutions broke down, and there were no 
more executions in New England, though they continued half 
a century longer in Europe. 

56. Religious Awakening (1736-17 71) 

The Puritan "theocracy" — that is, the ruling influence of 
the ministers who felt that they spoke for the Almighty as 
interpreted by John Calvin (§ 54) — steadily lost ground dur- 
ing the eighteenth century, although a new leader of thought 



Religious Awakening 83 

in New England, Rev. Jonathan Edwards, worked out an 
elaborate system of theology based on the " total depravity " 
of human nature. 

Against this harsh, theology and appeal to the fears of man- 
kind came a movement of protest, which began in the attempt 
of John and Charles Wesley, devoted clergymen of the 
Church of England, to restore vital religion to that church. 
In their sermons, doctrinal books, and hymns, they dwelt on 
the love of the Savior, and the great desire of God that His 
children should be reconciled to Him. In 1736 both brothers, 
followed by Rev. George Whitefield, came out for a time to 
Georgia, and attempted to convert the natives and to rouse the 
colonists. The Wesley movement ended in the founding of 
the Wesleyan or Methodist Church in England. In 1740 
Whitefield came to New England, and by his powerful preach- 
ing brought about "The Great Awakening," the first general 
revival of religion in America. 

The New England Congregationalists under this pressure 
divided into "Old Lights" and "New Lights," the latter feeling 
that genuine conversion must show itself by tears, groans, and 
convulsions, such as half a century later were popularly called 
"the jerks." The outcome of the movement was the estab- 
lishment of the Methodist Church in America and a great 
strengthening of the Baptists, while the Congregational, Pres- 
byterian, and Episcopal churches throughout the colonies were 
directly or indirectly influenced to make religion less a mat- 
ter of observance and dogma and more a matter of personal 
service. 

A new intellectual interest was shown by the publication of 
several excellent local histories, and by the foundation, between 
1746 and 1769, of six new colleges: New Jersey, shortly moved 
to Princeton ; Kings, now Columbia ; Queens, now Rutgers ; 
Philadelphia, founded by Franklin (later reorganized as the 
University of Pennsylvania) ; Rhode Island, now Brown ; and 
Dartmouth. 



84 Social and Political Life 

57. England's Control of the Colonies 

In politics as in religion, the colonies felt a serious responsi- 
bility for their own future. During the seventeenth and eight- 
eenth centuries, most European countries were falling more 
and more under a one-man government. In England alone did 
the people succeed in building up a system in which an elected 
parliament was superior to the hereditary king. That idea of 
popular government was still further expanded in the English 
colonies. 

Nominally, the colonial governments from 1689 to 1763 were 
subject to the control of the king; but practically they were 
controlled only to some extent by the king's ministers, who 
made the decisions and required the king to accept them. 
The principal ways in which the colonial governments were 
subject to England were the following : 

(i) The colonists acknowledged the king to be their sovereign 
and felt a personal loyalty to him, which was doubtless the 
stronger because they were too far away to see him. They also 
admitted the right of Parliament to legislate for them in matters 
of trade. 

(2) Every colony was originally founded on a royal grant or 
charter, given direct or through proprietors, though most of 
these charters were later surrendered. 

(3) The home government sent out instructions to the gov- 
ernors, who were appointed by the Crown. 

(4) Every colony had a legislature authorized by its charter 
or by instructions from England ; but the acts of that body, 
except in Rhode Island and Connecticut, could be set aside 
by the governor's veto ; and if he signed a bill it could still be 
set aside by the Privy Council on the advice of the Board of 
Trade in England. 

(5) The laws were not to be contrary to the laws of England ; 
and in some cases appeals could be taken from the colonial 
courts to the Privy Council in England. 



Colonial Popular Governments 85 

58. Colonial Popular Governments 

These limitations did not prevent the American colonies 
from enjoying the freest and most popular government then 
existing in the world. Nowhere else was there so much dis- 
cussion of pubhc questions by the people at large ; nowhere 
else was there so much of what Edmund Burke, the great 
Enghsh statesman, called the "fierce spirit of liberty." 

Then and since, the colonies have often been classified into 
three official forms : (i) three charter colonies — Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut ; (2) three pro- 
prietary colonies — Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland ; 
(3) seven royal or provincial colonies — New Hampshire, 
New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina, and Georgia. 

In all the colonies, whatever their origin or form, there was 
a colonial democracy built on the conviction that Americans 
were entitled to inborn rights, which could not be taken away 
by either British or colonial governments. Among them were : 
(i) the personal rights of Englishmen set forth in the old com- 
mon law, such as speedy and open trial by jury, and freedom 
from arbitrary arrest; (2) rights asserted for the English by 
such statutes as the Petition of Right (1628), the Habeas Cor- 
pus Act (1679), and the Bill of Rights (1689) ; (3) the right to 
make decisions in local matters through town meetings and 
other local assemblies. 

Voting was in every colony restricted to owners of real es- 
tate, as in England, or to payers of considerable personal 
taxes; but the land qualification was easy to get, and there- 
fore about one half or one third of the adult free men were 
voters. There were no political parties in the modern sense: 
the usual division was between the friends of the governor and 
the opposition. In all the colonies local dignitaries con- 
trolled their neighbors' votes ; and the public honors fell to a 
small number of families of social distinction. 



86 Social and Political Life 

Though officially quite a distance from one another, and 
connected only by common adherence to the British govern- 
ment, thvi colonies had many relations with one another. It 
was easy for an Englishman or a foreigner to become a citizen 
of a colony, or to move from one to another, for every colony was 
Protestant, every colony had about the same system of laws, 
in every colony English was the only official language. 

The most significant thing about the colonial governments 
is that they were very like the present state governments, par- 
ticularly in their subdivision into three "departments": 

(i) The Executive. In each colony the governor was the 
principal figure. Whether elected by the people as in Rhode 
Island and Connecticut, or appointed by the proprietors, or 
appointed by the Crown, the governors carried on the govern- 
ment in understanding with the people as represented by their 
assembly. In most colonies there was also a small council 
appointed by the Crown or the proprietor, which acted as the 
upper house of the legislature. 

(2) The Legislative. The lower house of the legislature, 
usually called the assembly, was elected by the people. It 
shared in making the laws and its consent was necessary for 
taxes. 

(3) The Judiciary. The judges were appointed by the gov- 
ernor or by the Crown (except in Rhode Island and Connecticut, 
where they were elected by the legislature). In the royal colo- 
nies the governor and council were the highest court. This 
was the weakest department, for the judges were often not 
skilled in the law; but justice was speedy and inexpensive, 
and the individual was protected by juries in all criminal and 
most civil cases. 

59. Local Governments 

One of the glories of colonial democracy was the local gov- 
ernments, in which the will of the people was least restrained. 
They were all founded upon the English system of shires or coun- 



Local Governments 87 

ties, parishes, and boroughs or cities; but the colonies made 
many changes and improvements. 

(i) All the colonies were divided into counties, governed by 
what we should call commissioners, appointed by the governors 
and called Courts of 
Quarter Sessions, or 
County Courts. In 
the southern colonies, 
the county courts did 
most of the local 
governing. 

(2) Beginning with 
New York in 1665, 
"borough" or "city" 
governments were set 
up in a few places in 
Pennsylvania, New 
York, and New Jersey. 

(3) The smallest 
unit of local govern- 
ment was the parish 
or town. The parish 
in the South was gov- 
erned by what was called a "select vestry" which filled its own 
vacancies. In the North the unit was the "town," in which 
there was a taxpayers' meeting founded on a similar meeting 
in some of the English parishes ; the county was there of little 
significance. In Pennsylvania and New York there were active 
town governments and also county organizations. 

Amidst all these different forms, the most interesting is the 
New England town meeting, which was a general assembly of 
all those who were qualified to vote, with other people present 
as lookers-on. These lively little meetings chose the town 
officers, especially the "townsmen," or "selectmen," who 
made up an executive board which sat whenever necessary. 




Hand Fire Engine. (Used in Germantown, 
about 1765.) 



88 Social and Political Life 

The main business of the town meeting, however, was to 
legislate for the town, and it was a place for vigorous discus- 
sion, and for the development of parliamentary law and po- 
litical patience. In troubled times it was the center of 
protest, as when the Cambridge town meeting in the Stamp 
Act days instructed its representatives that "they use their 
utmost endeavours, that the same may be repealed ; that this 
vote may be recorded in the Town Book, that the children yet 
unborn may see the desires that their ancestors had for their 
freedom and happiness." 

60. Review 

The thing most important to remember about the early 
English colonies is that for a long time they looked upon them- 
selves as simply a body of English people living across the sea. 
Nevertheless the conditions of frontier life and Indian warfare 
made their life very different. They increased rapidly in popu- 
lation, doubling about every twenty-five years. Most of them 
lived simply, though a few had handsome houses and surround- 
ings. 

The New Englanders and Dutch early started schools, and 
three little colleges were founded before 1702. In Pennsylvania 
and New England there were several well-known writers, es- 
pecially the Dutch and Puritan clergymen. Benjamin Frank- 
lin is the most striking figure of the period, as journalist, 
inventor, statesman, and writer. 

The most important religious denominations were the Congre- 
gationalists in New England and several other colonies, and the 
Episcopalians in the southern colonies and New York. There 
were several other denominations, English, Dutch, German, and 
Jewish. In 1692 many people of New England went almost 
insane over witchcraft, and nineteen supposed witches were 
hanged. A new religious movement was started by the Wesley 
brothers and Whitefield, which resulted in the foundation of the 
Methodist Church in America and the stirring up of the other 



References 89 

churches. Six new colleges were founded between 1746 and 
1769. 

The colonists had a very free government with their oyvn 
legislatures, but were partly under the control of governors 
appointed by the king. They enjoyed liberal personal rights 
and popular suffrage on rather easy conditions. They also de- 
veloped their own local government in the three forms of towns, 
counties, and cities. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. Avery, U.S., III. 206. — Greene, Provin- 
cial Am., 66. 

Secondary. Bassett, U.S., 134-137, 145-158. — Becker, Begin- 
nings, ch. V. — Bruce, Social Life of Va. — Channing, U.S., II. chs. viii, 
xiv-xvi. — Dickerson, Am. Col. Govt. — Doyle, English in Am., I. 268- 
274, 326, II. i-io, III. 1-97, 298-310, 377-395> V. chs. iv, v, vii. — 
Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Cols., II. 258-285, 317-356; Neiv France and 
Neiv Engl., chs. v, vi ; Old Va., II. 1-44, 1 16-130, 204-269, 308-325. — 
Yord, Many-sided Franklin. — Greene, Provincial Am., chs. i-vi, xi-xiv, 
xviii; Provincial Governor. — • Jenks, When Am. won Liberty, chs. v-vii. — 
McCrady, So. Carolina, II. 399-540. — Thwaites, Cols., §§ 23-26, 40- 
46 passim, 75-81 passim, 91-97 passim, 119, 129. — Tyler, Am. 
Literature (colonial). — Weeden, Neiv Engl., I. 47-87, 213-231, 269- 
303, 410-429, II. 512-551, 692-713. — Wendell, Cotton Mather, 88-307. 

Sources. Caldwell, Survey, 13-22, 126-132. — Frankhn, Auto- 
biography. — Hart, Contemporaries, 1. §§ 85-89, 137-149, 168, 172, II. 
§§ 16-18, 25-47 passim, 87, 90-108; Patriots and Statesmen, I. 149-153, 
157-162, 170-180, 187, 194-243 passim; Source Book, §§ 11, 12, 28-35, 
41-52. — Hill, Liberty Docs., ch. xi. — Jameson, Original Narratives 
(witchcraft cases). — Old South Leaflets, nos. 51, 159-161, 177, 184, 185. — 
Sewall, Diary. — Woolman, Journal. — See New Engl. Hist. Teachers' 
Assoc, Hist. Sources, §§ 73, 74; Syllabus, 306-308, 3i3-3iS> 318-321. 

Illustrative. Cooke, Youth of Jefferson (college life). — Cooper, 
Satanstoc (N.Y.). — DuBois, Martha Corey (witchcraft). — Earle, 
Home Life in Colonial Days; Child Life in Colonial Days; Colonial 
Dames; Sabbath in- Puritan New England; Two Centuries of Costume; 
Curious Punishments. — Harland, His Great Self (Col. Byrd). — Long- 
fellow, Giles Corey. — Meyers, Yotmg Patroon (N.Y.). — Paulding, 
Dutchman's Fireside. — Whittier, Mabel Martin; Prophecy of Samuel 
Sewall; Witch of Wenham. 



go Social and Political Life 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., Ill, V. ch. i. — Earle's books (cited in the 
preceding paragraph). — Eggleston, in The Century, 1884, 1885. — 
Mentor, serial nos. 62, 77, 86, 99. — Sparks, Expansion. — Wilson, Am. 
People, I, II. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Life in Philadelphia, or New York, or Boston, about 1750. 
[§ 49] — (2) Account of the Collegiate School in New Amsterdam. 
[§ 51] — (3) Early life in Harvard, or William and Mary, or Yale. 
[§ 51] — (4) Benjamin Franklin, as a boy and young man. [§ 53] — 
(5) Incidents of church services in the colonies. [§ 54] — (6) Witch 
prosecutions in other colonies besides Massachusetts. [§ 55] — (7) Con- 
temporary accounts of Salem witchcraft. [§ 55] — (8) Account of a 
meeting of a colonial legislature. [§ 58] — (9) Colonial town meetings. 
[§ 59] — (10) Colonial county courts. [§ 59] 

Topics for Fixrther Search 

(11) Huguenots in the English colonies. [§ 49] — (12) One of these 
groups of immigrants in Pennsylvania before 1763: Germans; Scotch- 
Irish; Moravians. [§§ 49, 54] — (13) Description and criticism of 
Mather's Magnalia, or of iheNew England Primer. [§ 52] — (14) Famous 
early church buildings. [§ 54] — (15) One of the following clergymen in 
America: Increase Mather ; Edwards; Whitefield; John Wesley; Byles. 
[§ 56] — (16) Life in one of the following colleges before the Revolution : 
New Jersey; Kings; Philadelphia; Rhode Island; Dartmouth. [§56] — 

(17) Why was government so democratic in the colonies? [§ 58] — 

(18) Experiences of some particular colonial governor. [§ 58] 



CHAPTER VI 

FRANCE AND THE WEST (1670-1763) 

61. French in the Interior (1670-1680) 




Governor Spotswood's Expe 
DiTiON to the Blue Ridge. 



With all their dash and 
enterprise on the seacoast, 
the English showed Uttle curi- f^ 
osity about the country behind 
the Appalachian Mountains. Two or I ^^ 
three unofficial travelers, particularly 
Batts, an Englishman, and Lederer, a 
German Swiss, crossed the divide before /' 
1689 and reached waters flowing mys- 
teriously westward; and a few traders 
penetrated into the Cherokee Indian coun- jjfj^ 
try in the southwest. Not till 17 16 did 
Governor Spotswood of Virginia cross the ^— 
Blue Ridge. 

01 



92 France and the West 

The French, however, had a natural genius for exploration, 
and never ceased to enlarge their knowledge about the great 
interior (§ 29). From the Indians on the upper lakes, they 
learned vaguely about a great south-flowing river which, 
they guessed, must empty into the Gulf of California. Mean- 
while another Frenchman was making plans for reaching 
that stream. This was Robert Cavelier, commonly called 
La Salle, a nobleman who in 1670 ventured on Lake Erie 
and thence southwestward to a large river which was perhaps 
the Ohio. 

The first Frenchman to reach the great south-flowing river was 
the missionary Father Marquette, accompanied by the trader 
Joliet. They ascended the Fox River and went down the Wis- 
consin till (June 17, 1673) they entered the mighty Mississippi 
(map, page 94). League after league they floated down the 
river, hoping to reach the sea. They passed the mouth of 
the Missouri, so muddy that they would not drink it. By 
the time they reached the mouth of the Arkansas they felt 
sure that they were near Spanish and hostile territory ; they 
therefore turned back, and paddled up the Illinois River, 
which they called the Divine, and crossed over the site now 
occupied by Chicago to Lake Michigan. 

La Salle obtained the favor of the French monarch Louis 
XIV, who authorized him to make discoveries in the far 
West. In 1679 La Salle built the ship Griffon on Lake Erie 
and navigated her to Lake Michigan. Crossing the portage 
from the St. Joseph River to the Kankakee River, he 
went downstream, and began to build another ship on the 
Illinois River at a place which he named Fort Crevecoeur 
(Heartbreak). A missionary friar, Father Hennepin, came 
out with La Salle and was sent by him down the Illinois 
and thence up the Mississippi ; he was taken prisoner by 
the Sioux Indians, and carried to the falls, which Hennepin 
named St. Anthony, on the site of the present Minneapolis 
(1680). 



Louisiana 93 

62. Exploration of the Lower Mississippi (1682-1687) 

Fate seemed against La Salle. The Griffon was lost. The 
shipbuilders on the Illinois deserted. But La Salle never gave 
up. He traveled thousands of miles till he collected the 
necessary men and supplies. Early in 1682 he reached the 
mouth of the Illinois with a party in canoes, and thence floated 
down the same stretch that Marquette had traversed. Soon 
after passing the mouth of the Ohio he took possession of the 
country with great ceremony, and set up the king's arms. A 
few days later, at the Chickasaw Bluffs, he founded Fort 
Prudhomme. 

After a few weeks he passed Marquette's farthest point and 
(April 6, 1682) arrived at a place where the river divided into 
three channels. As one of the party wrote: "The water is 
brackish ; after advancing two leagues it became perfectly 
salt, and advancing on, we discovered the open sea, so 
that . . . the sieur de la Salle, in the name of his majesty, 
took possession of that river, of all rivers that enter it, and of all 
the country watered by them." Thus was asserted the French 
title to the magnificent valley which La Salle named Louisiana, 
in honor of Louis XIV. 

La Salle's discovery made such an impression that the king 
sent him back, by sea, to plant a colony near the mouth of the 
Mississippi. By ill fortune he missed the river, and built Fort 
St. Louis (1685) on Matagorda Bay, Texas. He could not find 
his river; and after setting out for Canada to get help he 
was murdered by some of his own followers in 1687. The 
fort in Texas was destroyed by Indians, while the Spaniards 
from Mexico were trying to reach it in order to prevent a possible 
French settlement. 

63. Louisiana (i 687-1 735) 

After La Salle had explored the Mississippi, the French made 
several permanent settlements in what came to be called the 
hart's new amer. hist. — 7 



94 



France and the West 



Illinois country, among them Detroit (1701), uiul V'incenncs on 
the Wabash (1735). 

The Spaniards were anxious to make good their neglected 
claims to the lower Mississippi country, and settled Pensacola 
(1696) as a basis for colonies to be planted farther west. The 
French interrupted this plan by sending out 130 colonists under 




aCALE OF MrLE9 

160 200 



French Louisiana. 

Iberville in 1699 to take possession of the coast of Louisiana. 
After stopping at Dauphin Island and at Biloxi on the mainland, 
they founded Mobile (1702). The main purpose of this colony 
was to secure control of the valuable fur trade with the Indians 
of the interior, but it grew very slowly. 

In 171 2 a rich banker, Antoine Crozat, got from the king of 
France a grant giving him a monopoly of trade in "all the 



Rivalries in Europe 95 

countries, territories, lakes within land, and the rivers which 
fall directly or indirectly into the river St. Louis, heretofore 
called the Mississippi." This is the first distinct claim since 
La Salle's voyage (§ 62) to the whole region drained by the 
tributaries of the Mississippi, as belonging to France. Crozat 
made little use of his privileges, but in 171 7 the Illinois country 
was annexed to Louisiana. During the next year a new politi- 
cal and commercial center for the colony was created in the town 
of New Orleans, on a site chosen because the water front was 
elevated a few feet above the river. Some German emigrants 
came in as well as French, and in the course of a few years 
7000 Europeans gathered in Louisiana. 

64. Rivalries in Europe (1689-1763) 

The year 1689 is a significant date in the history of the 
United States : for it marks the beginning of a period of Euro- 
pean wars which extended to the colonies and which, after 
nearly seventy-five years of strife, pushed France out of the 
North American continent and thus made an independent 
American nation possible. The first step in this process was 
the overthrow of James II of England (§ 46). He fled to 
France, where Louis XIV harbored him ; and that at once 
brought on war between England and France. The resulting 
struggle in the New World was the first of four intercolonial 
wars, which were not ended till 1763. In 1701 Spain came 
into the wars as a kind of satellite of France, for the 
Spanish accepted as their king a younger grandson of Louis 
XIV. Another significant change was the union of England 
and Scotland into the kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. Up 
to this time the two countries had been distinct, although both 
had the same sovereign after the accession of James I (1603). 
After 1707 they were one land, with one parliament and one 
flag — the British. 

The most notable thing in the intercolonial wars is the rise 
of the British sea power, through the " wooden walls of Eng- 



96 France and the West 

land." To protect her own colonies, scattered all over the 
globe, and to attack the colonies of France and Spain, England 
developed the best navy of the time. The great " ships of the 
line," for naval battles, were of 1000 to 2000 tons' burden, and 
carried in one or two tiers as many as seventy-four guns. In 
each of the four intercolonial wars there was fighting on the 
wilderness frontiers between the French colonies and the Eng- 
lish colonies of New England and New York ; in the later wars 
the English colonists in the South also found themselves pitted 
against the Spaniards of Florida; while the West Indies be- 
came a zone of naval warfare in which European fleets con- 
tended and the small islands changed hands. 

65. Indian Warp are 

All the English colonists except the Pennsylvanians were 
used to wars with their own immediate Indian neighbors. 
The Indians were now drawn into these international troubles 
as the allies of one side or the other. The first experience of 
invasion was an expedition of French and Indians which in 
1690 made a night attack on the town of Schenectady, near 
Albany, sacked and burned the little place, killed sixty people, 
and took thirty prisoners. A similar incident was the raiding 
of the Connecticut River town of Deerfield in 1704, when more 
than half of the inhabitants were killed or swept away. First 
and last ten places in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
and New York were raided in this fashion. The Enghsh used 
the same tactics, engaged Indian allies when they could, and 
did not disdain to offer a reward for scalps. 

Fearful was the hasty march northward after a French raid ; 
little children were brained against the trees, because too 
troublesome to carry; the women who fainted with fatigue 
were tomahawked and scalped to save the trouble of carrying 
them along. In one such foray (1691) Hannah Dustin of 
Haverhill, Massachusetts, was made prisoner. She had the 
courage, with a nurse and a white boy, to surprise her captors, 



First Three Intercolonial Wars 97 

and to kill not only two Indian men but three women and 
five children ; by this means she escaped and reached home 
to tell the tale. 

The English saved themselves from the worst danger from 
Indians by making friends with the ferocious Iroquois, who were 
enlarged into "Six Nations" instead of five by taking in the 
Tuscaroras in 17 15. The home government later appointed Sir 
William Johnson its agent to the Six Nations. He Uved among 
them in a great place called Johnson Hall, where he kept open 
house for their benefit. He was an adept at those long-drawn 
councils which the Indians so much loved; he knew how to 
give belts of wampum, how metaphorically " to dry up their 
tears," "to clear the road grown up with weeds," and to set up 
"the fine shady trees almost blown down by the northerly 
winds." This palaver, accompanied with plenty of food and 
rum, was very effective in preventing the French north wind 
from blowing down the English influence among the Iroquois. 

66. First Three Intercolonial Wars (1689-1748) 

It is not necessary here to follow the confused and indecisive 
conflicts between the British on the one side and the French 
and the Spanish on the other. The only notable successes of 
the English colonists in the first three wars were the capture of 
the little town of Port Royal in Acadia in 1690, and again in 
1 7 10, and the taking of the great naval station of Louisburg on 
the island of Cape Breton in 1745. 

The results of the first three wars were recorded in three 
notable treaties: (i) The Peace of Ryswick in 1697 gave back 
to each side the possessions that it had at the beginning of the 
war. (2) The Peace of Utrecht in 17 13 yielded French Acadia 
— the present Nova Scotia — to Great Britain ; and the French 
also gave up the Hudson Bay country and Newfoundland. 
This was the beginning of the downfall of the French colonial 
empire. (3) The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, after a 
war in which the colonists aided the British to attack the 



98 



France and the West 



Spanisli colonics in South America, restored things, as they had 
been after the treaty of Utrecht. Nevertheless Great Britain 
was gaining power throughout the world, especially on the sea, 
while Spain was slowly going downhill, and France was barely 
able to hold her own. 

67. French and English Rivalry on the Ohio (1749-17 54) 

Everybody understood that the peace of 1748 was only a 
respite in the struggle for the possession of the Mississippi 
valley. The French already had a chain of posts and settle- 







The Battle at Fort Necessity. 



ments from Lake Michigan through Illinois down to the Mis- 
sissippi River. They now proceeded to strengthen this defense 
by building another chain from Lake Ontario to the Ohio River. 
Among the new forts were Presque Isle (Erie), and Le Bocuf 



French and Indian War 99 

on a tributary of the Allegheny River. The French had the 
advantages of first discovery, first settlement, and the friend- 
ship of the Indians. Nevertheless, the British government 
made a grant to the so-called Ohio Company (1749), formed 
by Virginians, for lands on the upper Ohio River. 

Under instructions from England, Governor Dinwiddle of 
Virginia in 1753 sent out a colonial officer, George Washing- 
ton (then 21 years old), to warn the French to depart. He 
delivered his message at Fort Le Boeuf and returned to report 
that the French would not yield. Instead, the French seized 
the strategic point of the Forks of the Ohio (now Pittsburgh) 
and built Fort Duquesne on the coveted spot. Washington, 
in command of a little force of Virginians, attacked a smaller 
body of Frenchmen near Great Meadows (May, 1754); and 
under his orders the first shot was fired in the fourth inter- 
colonial war, which developed into a great international con- 
test. A few weeks later Washington was obliged to surrender 
Fort Necessity — a little stronghold that he had built. 

68. French and Indian War (i 754-1 763) 

The colonists were neither armed nor prepared for such a 
struggle, and an attempt was made by the Board of Trade to 
bring them to act together through a Congress which assembled 
at Albany in 1754. Representatives appeared from seven 
colonies and made arrangements to keep the favor of the 
Iroquois. Benjamin FrankUn also presented a plan for colonial 
union which is a foreshadowing of our present Constitution. A 
grand council, representing the colonies roughly in proportion 
to their population, was to be the active body. This plan was 
approved by the Albany Congress, and was sent out to the 
colonies for consideration, but as Franklin said, "Its fate was 
singular; the assemblies cHd not adopt it, as they all thought 
there was too much prerogative in it, and in England it was 
judged to have too much of the democratic." 

Another notable incident of the war was the forcible removal 



lOO 



l''i;UUi' Mild llu" \\'("Sl 



o\ (In- seven ihoiis.mil I'H-m h stMtlii'- who \vi-ic livin;' in 
Nov;) Si(>ti;i. luilwillislMUilin)-' its ti'ssioM {o (irr;»( Hiilain in 
171,^ Vo prrvrnl lMt> dangci ol iUnv lisini:;. ;iu olVu cr was 
srni (175,0. with onl(MS to uiuo\i> (Iumu. lie s;i\s lli.il tlu' 
men liisl locml>.nk "wi'iil oil I'liuing, SiMgit\u; vV Crying being 
Met l)V llu- wonuM) vV CluMicn .ill the \v;w (winch is \^ unW) 
with gnwt l.;inuM\liitions up^'u lluii Knrcs. proving tVo." The 



I \\- . \ ^- 


\ 


I i . ' 


' ■>> 




A N ^" » ^, „ , ,. „ ^ 




\\ 


i V 


Nf. /.HMM'pnO* 


> 




<V \ 




l5^V^^^\, ,^^ 




v'"" 




!ii \.,>»A„ ; ., ^. 


»'",> V ' i ' ,\.>i» ^ ^' 










',•."'■'■•■;;■;/ ' 


N'pWimV Jv 


v.>'' 


", ^' ' 


1 n<(u.i> 


. jvAt-t BKt(v>N ^ ^^ 


L ( Vrf !.♦■ '^ 'y vA 


1 K<vHv>h 



SrKNV>" OF rnv Frv'nou ano 1nim\n W'ak. 

,\i;\vli;u\ l;uu\lu's wno l*>>n tuMu tlu-ii houu-s. lv\\ili\l on \rssols. 
;\\\\\ iiistiilnili'd in the vv^Kniii^s. whiMO n\;n\\ v>l' tluMU snl\"on\l 
sovoivly 1hM\>io thov couKl luul .» li\i-lilu>oii. an*! svmwo t'nnnlios 
woro tiMovor soparatcil. 

At tho hog\»\n\»\g ot tho war. iho Uritisli vv^Kmists nvnulnMCvl 
al>vn»t \.^^v«.ooo; {\i\d the iMvmh C'anadiaiis v>nly abont So.ooo. 
bosivlrs svMUc savage allies, rho lighting vagal all along tho 
in>t\tio\s i"von\ Maine tluxnigh I ake Th aniplain and the southern 



P'rciuli and lii(li:in War 



1(11 



shoic <>t l,;ikc ()iil;nii» l<> llic lic;i(l\v;ilcis oi llic ()liiii llic 
coloiiisls i;iisctl » oiisidciahlr nuinltcis ol troops and were l>a< kcd 
l)\' small ainiicsol llrilisii ifjMilais. 

In llic siimiut'i ol I'/uj;, an cNpcdil ion ol lillccn hnndicd nicii, 
iindci llic Itiilisli (,!;("iu'ral Hraddoik, was sciil a>;aiMsl l''oi I \)\\ 
(|iusnc and mc( a dranialic laic. Itraddoik was williin seven 
miles ol his dcsl inal ion, wlini a lone ol I'lcmli ami Indians, 
alxMil one half ol" his s(rcM)',lli, sallied oiil and lolalU delealed 
linn. Ilis lei'iilars were hiaxc lull did nol nndeisland Indian 
• i)',lil ill)',, and Hiaddtii k would nol allow even llie mililia lo lijdil 
Irom heliind I ices; heme a lliird ol his oHieeis and men wei(> 
killed, and Ihe remainder, lei'.nlars and proviiKials alike, Wasli- 
iiii'lon sa\s, "ran as sheep pll^^aled l>\- dogs." 

Ill (he liisl lliiec Near, ol I he war, Ihe l''rench had (he besl. 
ol il ainiosi e\ ci \ w heie in AmeiHa , il was hard lo j-m-I Ihe I'.ii)!;- 
lish I olonies lo a( I lor.elhei. As had lieeii expeeled, Ihe war 
exiended lo l',nro|)e, where il lasted Irom i 75() (o lyf); and is 
(herel'ore lalled the Seven N'eais' War it extended even to 
India, wheie in llic lamoiis hallleol I'lasscy (17,^7)1 Hrilish 
siipremaey was sc( nn"d o\-er (he I'rem h and the natives. I'",lse 
where (Ireat Hrilain sniTered hmnilialiii}^ dei'eals. 'I'heii Ihe 
l''.ii)',lisli people inisled thai William Till, an anlenl and ini 
pnlsi\t' man, a powerlnl speakei, and a ^real atlminist raloi , he 
pill at the head of affair:. , aiitl lliinfj;s hej/un lo mend. In 
Ameiiea l''oi I |)ni|iieMie was taken in 1758; and the I'lemh 
(oiild not preveii( Ihe set ond eaptuie of T,oiiisl)nr)';. 

To invade Canada, i'itt now selei led (leneial |ames Wolfe, 
a model (ommandei, endowed with the l'',ii)',lish Imlldo)', (e 
naiity, and at Ihe sam«' lime with soldieilv skill and daiiiij:!;. 
With ()ooo men and a Meet, Wolfe hesiej^ed Ihe sironi'; fortress 
ol (,>nel>e( , deleiideil li\ 1 ,| ,c mi . men alil\' (omnianded li\ I he 
Maninis de Monti aim. Wolfe loKcd and won a hallle on llie 
I'lains ol .Mnaliam, ahove Ihe town (Septemliei 1;, r/So), 
Imt was himsell moilalK' wounded The result was <lis- 
pnl<-d at Ihe lime. " ' I'liex inn, see how !he\ inn,' ei ied 



I02 



France and the West 



a bystander. 'Who runs?' demanded our hero, with great 
earnestness. . . . The officer answered, 'The enemy. Sir; 
Egad, they give way everywhere.' The dying general issued 
his orders quickly; then turning on his side, he said, 'Now, 

God be praised, I will 
die in peace.'" In 
a few days Quebec 
surrendered, and the 
next year Montreal fell. 
In 1762 Manila and 
Havana were captured 
from Spain by British 
fleets. 




69. Results of the 
War (1763) 

The war was ended 
in all parts of the 
world by the Peace of 
Paris (1763). Besides 
momentous changes in 
the maps of Europe 
and India, the treaty 
registered the most 
significant alterations in the internal boundaries of North 
America that had ever been brought about : 

(i) The French lost every part of their American empire ex- 
cept the two little islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon off New- 
foundland, and a few of the West Indies. 

(2) By a secret treaty France ceded to Spain the whole of 
the western half of Louisiana beyond the Mississippi River, 
together with the "Island of Orleans" (New Orleans and vi- 
cinity), which commanded the mouth of that river. Since 
Spain claimed the Pacific coast, she was thus put into posses- 
sion of nearly half the continent of North America. 



Review 103 

(3) By the Peace of Paris llic British gained much : (a) Cape 
Breton and Prince Edward Island ; {b) Canada, or the whole 
valley of the St. Lawrence, including the Great Lakes ; (c) the 
Ohio valley, Illinois country, and all other parts of Louisiana 
east of the Mississippi, excepting the Island of Orleans ; 
{d) East and West Florida, which were given by Spain in ex- 
change for the return of Cuba. Thus the British became 
masters of the whole eastern half of the continent. 

Except for extending Georgia southward to the St. Marys 
River, none of this new territory was added to the coast col- 
onies. In fact, by the "Proclamation of 1763" the governors 
were forbidden to "grant warrants of survey or pass patents for 
any lands beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers 
which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or northwest." 
That country was to be reserved for the Indians (map, 
page 104). 

The vast interior had very few white inhabitants. There 
were perha.ps 6000 French east of the Mississippi in the north- 
west country. South of the Ohio there were only a few Indian 
traders and half-breeds. It soon became clear, however, that 
the eastern settlers would push into the new country, procla- 
mation or no proclamation. Pennsylvania was the only colony 
that still possessed a charter under which it held a continu- 
ous strip beyond the Alleghenies, and before the war was over 
hardy Scotch-Irishmen and Germans were pushing their way 
down the western slopes toward the Ohio. 

70. Review 

After 1670, the French steadily pushed west and southwest. 
The missionary. Father Marquette, was the first to reach the 
Mississippi River (1673). The greatest explorer was La Salle, 
the first Frenchman to navigate Lake Erie. One of his com- 
panions, Father Hennepin, went up the Mississippi River to the 
falls of St. Anthony. La Salle in 1682 went down the river till he 
reached the sea ; and he claimed the whole region as a French 



I04 



France and the West 



possession, under the name of Louisiana. The French colony 
of Louisiana, founded in 1699, developed very slowly and in- 
cluded little settlements in the Illinois country. 




SCALE OF MILES 

6 nio iUo 3!» 

__.^BuuDjaxies of the new provinces 
^^^M» ^ ^_^.^ Proclamation Line 

BAH aIm a - Boundaries of the Thirteen Colonies 

I - , Present state boundaries 



British Colonies in 1765. 

From 1689 to 1763, the history of international relations in 
America is chiefly the story of the downfall of the French colo- 
nial power. In these wars the Indians took part. The French 



References 105 

used them for raiding the frontiers, but the EngHsh had the aid 
of the Iroquois. 

In three wars between 1689 and 1748 the French lost Nova 
Scotia and their claims to the Hudson Bay country and New- 
foundland. They then attempted to strengthen their posses- 
sions and claims west of the AUeghenies. Virginia, acting for 
the British government, protested; and her agent, George 
Washington, attacked the French in 1754. 

This was the beginning of the French and Indian War, in which 

the French held their own in the Ohio valley for three years and 

defeated the little army of General Braddock near the forks of 

the Ohio (1755). In 1757 came a change. The French were 

compelled to give way in various parts of the world, and by the 

capture of Quebec, in 1759 lost their hold in Canada. By the 

Peace of Paris (1763) they were obliged to give up all their 

splendid possessions on the mainland of North America. The 

country west of the mountains was left for the British to settle ; 

but for some years they held off from founding new colonies 

there. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 94, 100, 104. — Avery, U.S., Ill, 
IV. — Bogart, Econ. Hist., 23, 27. — Coman, Indust. Hist., 11, 17. — 
Epoch Maps, nos. iv, v. — Semple, Geogr. Conditions, 36-46. — Thwaites, 
Colonies; France in Am. — See Supt. of Docs., Geography and Explora- 
tion List. 

Secondary. Andrews, Col. Period, ch. ix. — Channing, U.S., II. 
chs. xviii, xix. — Douglas, New Engl, and New France. — Fiske, New 
France and New Engl., chs. iv, vii-x. — Greene, Provincial Am., chs. Vii-x. 

— Grifl&s, Sir William Johnson. — Johnson, General Washington, 1-66. 

— YAng, Sieur de Bienville. — Lodge, Washington, I. 1-14, 54-118. — 
Parkman, Frontenac; Half Century of Conflict; La Salle; Montcalm and 
Wolfe; Pontiac. — ?>\oa.ne, French War and Rev., 22-115. — Thwaites, 
France in Am.; Marquette. — Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, chs. x-x\d; 
Mississippi Basin. — Wood, Fight for Canada. 

Sources. Am. Hist. Leaflets, no. 14. — Caldwell, Survey, 39-43; 
Terr. Development, 12-23. — Cox, Journeys of La Salle. — Hart, Contem- 
poraries, I. §§ 42, 43, II. §§ 109-129; Patriots and Statesmen, I. 126-134, 
162, 170, 188-190, 201-205, 2JO-213, 220-235, 243-247; Source Book, 



io6 France and the West 

§§ 3^'""4o- — MacDonald, Select Charters, nos. 51, 52, 54. — Old South. 
Leaflets, nos. 9, 46, 73, 187. — See New Engl. Hist. Teachers' Assoc, 
Hist. Sources, § 75; Syllabus, 216, 301, 315-318. 

Illustrative. Catherwood, Story of Tonty. — Cooke, Stories of the Old 
Dominion, 1 10-139. — ^ Cooper, Last of the Mohicans; Deerslayer- — 
Craddock, Old Fort Loudon. — Crowley, Daughter of New France. — 
Eggleston, Am. War Ballads, I. 14-20. — Gordon, Englishman's Haven 
(Louisburg). — Hawthorne, Grandfather's Chair, pt. ii., chs, vii-x; Old 
News, pt. ii. — Kirby, Golden Dog (Canada). — Laut, Heralds of Empire. 

— Longfellow, Evangeline. — McHenry, The Wilderness (Ohio country). 

— Munroe, At War with Ponliac. — Parker, Trail of the Sword (Canada) ; 
Seats of the Mighty (French and Indian War). — Stevenson, Soldier of 
Virgin^ia (Braddock and Washington). — Whittier, Pentucket. 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., Ill, IV. — Mentor, Serial no. 35. — Wilson, 
Am. People, II. — Winsor, America, V. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Why was La Salle so much interested in western travel? [§ 61] — 
(2) Father Marquette as a missionary. [§ 61] — (3) Incidents of 
La Salle's voyage on the Mississippi. [§ 62] — (4) First French colony 
in Louisiana. [§ 63] — (5) Life in early New Orleans. [§ 63] — (6) Life 
at Johnson Hall. [§ 65] — (7) Account of the French chain of western 
posts. [§ 67] — (8) George Washington in the West. [§ 67] — (9) Eng- 
lish capture of Quebec. [§ 68] 

Topics for Further Search 

(10) Life in early Detroit, or Pittsburgh. [§§ 63, 67] — (11) Life on 
an English ship of war. [§ 64] — (12) Account of an Indian raid on the 
English frontier. [§ 65] — (13) Franklin's plan of colonial union. [§ 68] 

— (14) Story of the removal of the A?adians. [§ 68] — (15) The 
English in India. [§ 68] — (16) Why did France give up Louisiana in 
1763? [§ 69] — (17) The Proclamation Line of 1763. [§ 69] 



CHAPTER VII 
COLONIAL BUSINESS (1750-1775) 
71. The Business Side of Life 

However interested the colonists were in wars and treaties, 
in elections and governments, in schools and churches, the 
thing that was most in their minds and about which they prob- 
ably talked most was — how to make a living. Even the Pil- 
grims (§32) had to face that question because they were heavily 
burdened with debt when they arrived, and they were glad to 
pay it off out of the profits of their fur trade and their fishing. 
Some writers on American history believe that the hard, 
practical, and material side of colonial life was the most 
important ; and they think they can discover the real motives 
and influences of the times in wheat and corn, furs, timber, 
and other products of the land. Without for a moment 
accepting the doctrine that bread and butter seemed more 
important to the colonists than political liberty or eternal sal- 
vation, we must admit that business interests and business 
motives were stronger influences than even the people them- 
selves realized. 

The movements of population were much affected by the 
distribution of natural resources. The French were drawn to 
the St. Lawrence and the Dutch to the Hudson by the need of 
reaching the furs. The first prosperity of New England was 
due chiefly to the rich fisheries of that coast. Virginia and 
Maryland grew up mainly on tobacco planting. The most 
populous towns, such as Boston, New Haven, New York, 

107 




ro8 



The Business Side of Life 



109 




- 1' 



->'*^\^:v. 



Philadelphia, BaUimorc, and Charleston were {)laced on the 
best harbors. It was perfectly natural that newcomers should 
seek the best land, the best ports, and the places best situated 
for trade. 

The business of the colonies early divided itself into a variety 
of callings. Probably nine tenths of all the people down to the 
period of the Revolution 
lived on farms and either 
worked on the land or 
were busy in occupations 
directly connected with the 
land, such as carding and 
spinning wool, making tools, 
and putting up farm build- 
ings. The greater part of 
the other tenth were sea- 
farers, including fishermeji 
and the ofhcers and crews 
of coasting craft and of 
vessels engaged in foreign 
trade. Another class was 
that of handicraftsmen, such as shoemakers, saddlers, car- 
penters, blacksmiths, etc., who plied their trades, usually in 
villages or hamlets, where they could find customers. Another 
group was employed in producing goods for a market, instead 
of for particular persons. Such were the millers, makers 
of pig iron and of pot and pearl ashes, and builders of ships. 
Then there was a small class of wealthy men, most of them 
merchants and shipowners, with a few large landowners, who 
carried on business on a large scale, with each other and with 
foreign merchants. Many of the colonists could turn their 
hands to various occupations. Farmers built ships in winter 
and their sons sailed them. Carpenters could still go out 
lumbering. There was no large class of wage-earning 
workmen. 




Remains of a Colonial Iron Furnace. 



no Colonial Business 

72. The Farmer 

The basis and support of every colony was the tillage of the 
soil ; and the most numerous class of the population was that 
of free farming families, living on farms that would supply their 
owners with almost every need. The forest trees furnished 
building material, fuel, and timber for ships. The farmers 
raised most of their own food, for corn and other grains, pork, 
mutton, and beef were common farm products. 

The heaviest labor throughout the colonies was clearing 
new land. The usual method was to girdle the trees, and 
then to plant a first crop among the dead timber; later, to 
cut the trees down, roll the logs together into piles, and burn 
them. This work was too heavy for a man to do alone, so 
neighbors used to join together and roll the logs, first for one 
and then for another. Thence is derived the modern term of 
"logrolling," which is applied to members of a legislature who 
combine to support each other's measures. The stumps often 
remained an impediment for many years. In New England, 
also, the bowlders were an obstacle to farming and were rolled 
away or holes were dug to receive them. It was this hard labor 
that made land valuable ; uncleared land could be had almost 
for the asking. 

The principal crop was Indian corn, which was a staple 
article of food from Maine to Georgia, eaten in the various 
forms of mush or "hasty pudding," succotash, roasting ears, 
Indian pudding, corn cake, and hoecake. Wheat and other 
grains were grown from New England to Virginia, for wheat 
bread was widely preferred to corn. A little before the Revo- 
lution there sprang up a brisk export of wheat to other parts 
of the world. Vegetables were grown by farmers for their own 
use, and most townspeople cultivated vegetable gardens. 

The colonists did not put up ice and had no knowledge of the 
method of canning food, so that they were dependent to a large 
degree on salt fish, salt pork, and salt beef for their animal food. 



The Planter iii 

Clams and oysters, however, were abundant and made up almost 
the entire food of some poor families. Game was still abundant 
in or near most communities, and venison, wild turkey, and 
bear meat were welcome additions to the table. Most farmers 
had orchards. Much fruit was put in store for the winter, and 
part of it was converted into preserves, peach butter, and 
apple butter. Molasses was imported from the West Indies ; 
and in the northern states, large quantities of sugar were made 
Indian fashion from maple sap. Corfee and chocolate were not 
much used, but tea was a highly prized and widely distributed 
luxury. 

Part of the apples went to the cider mill to be turned into 
cider, which was a drink widely used. Still stronger beverages, 
distilled from cider and peach juice, were "applejack" and 
peach brandy. Imported gin and West India or New England 
rum were common ; and those who could afford it drank 
wine, especially Madeira imported from the Madeira Islands. 
Alcoholic liquors were used without stint and caused a vast 
amount of drunkenness. 

Besides the food crops, the farmers of the northern and 
middle colonies raised cattle for sale and large numbers of 
sheep, from the wool of which most of the« people were clothed. 
Few farmers had a surplus that could be turned into cash, 
but they could trade their crops and butter, cheese, honey, and 
other products to the storekeeper for necessary supplies. 

73. The Planter 

South of Pennsylvania, agriculture was in general of a dif- 
ferent type. The staple crop was tobacco, which exhausted 
the land so that there was a constant process of clearing new 
soil and letting the old fields go out of cultivation. Grain and 
cattle were raised in Maryland and Virginia, but south of 
Virginia it was difficult to raise cattle on account of the ticks and 
other pests in the woods. Farther south the soil was not suitable 
for grain, except that rice was raised in the coast swamps of 
hart's new amer. hist. — 8 



112 



Colonial Business 




South Carolina and Georgia. In Maryland and Virginia there 
was a class of farmers working their own land, just as in the 
states farther north; but in the Carolinas and Georgia, these 

independent farmers degener- 
ated into a shiftless folk who 
came eventually to be known 
as "poor whites," "sand 
hillers," and "red necks." 

The typical southern land- 
owner and raiser of crops was 
the slave-owning planter. A 
few such planters could be found 
in Rhode Island and New York ; 
more in Pennsylvania and 
Maryland ; but from Virginia 
southward they were the domi- 
nant class in the community. 
They raised corn for the food 
of the slaves, and half-wild 
hogs, often called " razor backs," 
ran through the woods. The 
expression "hog and-hominy" came to be jocularly applied to 
the diet of most of the people. Yams and other vegetables 
could be easily grown, but few plantations had vegetable gardens. 
In the quarter century before the Revolution, the southern 
planters were not fortunate. Tobacco was very low-priced. 
Indigo could be grown only in South Carolina and rice in South 
Carolina and Georgia. One of the few exports was "naval 
stores," — that is, pitch, tar, and turpentine, products of the 
abundant pine forests, — but this was not a planter's crop. 
Cotton was not yet recognized as a paying crop. 

The richest of the southern planters were men of high breeding 
and gallant spirit. Take for example Colonel William Fitz- 
hugh, a lawyer, a keen planter and slave buyer, and a capable 
business man, owner of fifty-four thousand acres of land. He 



Headdress of a Colonial 
Lady. (The wife of Benjamin 
Rush, one of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence.) 



White Laborers 



113 



grew flax and hemp, hay and tobacco, and put his large profits 
into more land and slaves. He had a home plantation of a 
thousand acres, including a "very good dwelling house with 
many rooms in it, four of the best of them hung & nine of them 
plentifully furnished with all things necessary & convenient, 
& all houses for use furnished with brick chimneys, four good 
Cellars, a Dairy, Dovecot, Stable, Barn, Henhouse, Kitchen & 
all other conveniencys," together with an orchard, garden, 
water gristmill for wheat and corn, a stock of tobacco and good 
debts. His yearly income was estimated at sixty thousand 
pounds of tobacco (about $15,000 in money), besides the 






%->! 




'.^^-J?*«<*L^!l } 






\7^ ^'^V.^ zW L J ^— \ ^ 



L -L -- 



^ 1 \ ~yk^i»^' 



r'z^^zJlf^ i-^ 



^S6^-vl» 



Byrd Mansion, Westover, Virginia. 

increase of the negroes. His tobacco he shipped direct to 
England from the private wharf of his own plantation, and he 
was accustomed to order fine clothing, silverware, books, and 
other English goods. 

74. White Laborers 

In all the colonies there was a class of white men working 
for wages for landowners and other employers. Some of the 
first colonists of New England brought with them such hired 



114 Colonial Business 

servants. It was difl&cult to hold them, for the more industrious 
among them saved their wages, bought land, and set up for 
themselves. Hence a system of forced white labor began im- 
mediately. Convicts, criminals, prisoners in the civil wars, 
and children, were sent over as bond servants. Other thou- 
sands of respectable men and families came over as "redemp- 
tioners," under agreement with the shipmaster that he might 
sell their services for a term of years to somebody in America 
for money to pay their passage. Both bond servants and 
redemptioners were subject to the arbitrary will of their 
masters and were often cruelly treated. Nevertheless, many of 
them worked out their terms of service, became prosperous 
members of the community, and founded families. 

The respectable colonists strongly protested against send- 
ing over men and women of known bad character. The de- 
mand for labor was met partly by the large families of the time. 
Many farmers had eight, ten, or twelve children, who helped 
on the farm and in the abundant housework, and saved the 
expense of hired laborers. 

In the trades, skilled laborers might earn as much as two 
shillings a day (having about the purchasing power of $i.oo 
nowadays) and their board. In the trades such as harness 
making and blacksmithing and the manufacture of wooden 
bowls, and also in the shops or small stores, it was the custom 
to employ apprentices who were commonly bound to serve for 
seven years, and who lived with the master's family but were 
often very harshly treated. The average daily wage for un- 
skilled laborers would not buy so much as 50 or 60 cents in our 
times. While most provisions were cheap, imported articles 
were always expensive, and the wage earner could not afford to 
purchase them. 

75. The Slave 

Perhaps a third of all the hard labor in the colonies after 1750 
was performed by negro slaves. The first colonists began to 



The Slave 



115 



enslave the Indians, but the red men were sullen and revengeful 
and rapidly died off in confinement. The first importations 
of slaves were made from the West Indies, then direct from 
Africa to the American mainland. Theirs was a terrible fate. 
Captured by fellow-Africans in raids which caused the destruc- 
tion of nine tenths of their friends and kindred, they were 
brought down to the West African coast, and there sold for 
rum and iron and trinkets to white men who brought them 




Deck Plans of a Slaver. (Showing stowage of nearly 500 persons 
in a 300-ton ship.) 

over to an unknown country and distributed them through the 
colonies. The negroes spent their lives in bondage, transmitted 
the obligations of a slave to their children, and were shut out 
from the social and political life of the country in which they 
lived. 

In most of the northern colonies, the slaves were few in 
number, for it was not profitable to use them in gangs in the 
fields, and they were held chiefly to mark the wealth and posi- 
tion of their owners. Thus it is recorded that Madam Wads- 
worth, wife of the president of Harvard College, owned a slave 
woman named Venus. There was a small negro population in 



ii6 Colonial Business 

all the northern seaports, because most of the slave ships were 
run by New Englanders. In the South, the negroes were a 
small proportion till after 1700 ; but by the time of the Revolu- 
tion they were a third of the southern population, and in South 
Carolina counted more than half. 

Slaves were cheap and their labor was often very profitable ; 
but they could be held only in defiance of the great English 
principle that all men are free. For a long time masters would 
not allow their slaves to be baptized, because they had scruples 
against holding Christians in bondage. Some people held 
that slavery was both unchristian and stupid. Colonel Byrd, 
a slave owner, wrote of slaves, "They blow up the pride and 
ruin the Industry of our White People." A favorite devotional 
book, Baxter^ s Christian Directory, warned masters that "to go 
as Pirates and catch up poor Negroes or people of another land, 
and to make them slaves, and sell them, is one of the worst 
kinds of Thievery in the World." That slavery was dangerous 
was shown by severe laws against slave offenses, and by slave 
insurrections in Virginia and in South Carolina, and a supposed 
slave plot in New York in 1741. 

76. The Trader and the Merchant 

The business of exchanging products and bringing manufac- 
tures within reach of the people was carried on by a class of 
small peddlers and storekeepers. The man with a pack on his 
back was welcome in the farmer's kitchen, where he tempted 
the girls with ribbons, the boys with knives, and the housewife 
with tinware. In all the villages and in many places in the open 
country, little shops were set up which corresponded to the 
modern country "general stores." Mrs. Knight, a lively New 
England traveler, in 1704 wrote about the local business men of 
New Haven : "They give the title of merchant to every trader ; 
who Rate their Goods according to the time and spetia they 
pay in : viz. Pay, mony, Pay as mony, and trusting. Pay is 
Grain, Pork, Beef, &c. at the prices sett by the General Court 



The Trader and the Merchant 



117 



that Year ; nuviy is pieces of Eight, Ryalls, or Boston or Bay 
shillings (as they call them), or Good hard money, as sometimes 
silver coin is termed by them ; also Wampom, viz. Indian beads 
which serves for change. Pay as many is provisions, as aforesaid. 




Chew Hocse, Germaxtown. (Injured by cannon ball^ in a battle 
fought at this place in 1777; still standing.) 

one Third cheaper then as the Assembly or Gene Court setts it ; 
and Trust as they and the merchant agree for time." 

The traders were usually obliged to take their pay in "prod- 
uce," which they in turn sent to the larger places in payment 
for their goods. Those on the frontier also bought the Indian 
wares, a little corn, maple sugar, and bead work, but especially 
furs, which were a staple commodity. Another class of traders 
circulated through the frontiers both north and south with 
their pack horses loaded with blankets, powder and ball, guns, 
red cloth, hatchets, knives, scissors, kettles, paints, looking- 
glasses, tobacco, beads, and "brandy, which the Indians value 



ii8 



Colonial Business 



*%i«k *^P|# 



above all other goods that can be brought them." One of 
the traders, James Adair, wrote an account of his experiences, 
and complained bitterly that disorderly traders "decoy the in- 
toxicated savages to defraud the old fair dealer every winter, 
of many thousand pounds of dressed deer-skin, by the enchant- 
ing force of liquors." Adair was a "squaw man," who was 

proud of his wife, whom 
he called a "Chickasaw 
princess." 

Very different from these 
hand-to-mouth traders 
were the well-to-do mer- 
chants of the large towns. 
At that time there were no 
business companies char- 
tered by the colonies except 
for marine insurance, and 
no private or public banks. 
The rich merchants were 
the only large manufac- 
turers and forwarders, and 
they also acted as bankers, 
for they would receive 
money from their neigh- 
bors, pay it over sea, and 
collect accounts at either 
end of the line. Their 
principal business was to 




Childrkx's Costtme of about 1776. 
(Worn by the author's children.) 



buy the products of the country and exchange them for foreign 
imports ; to that end they often took ships in payment for goods 
or built ships and freighted their own craft to distant ports. One 
of the mo: I famous of these merchants was William Phips, who 
began life as a poor boy, with one ambition — to be "owner of 
a Fair Brick-House in the Green-Lane of North Boston." 
He traded, gathered property, organized an expedition to raise 



Shipping and Sailors 119 

the treasure of a sunken Spanish vessel, got about £300,000 
in gold and silver, was knighted, became governor of Massa- 
chusetts, and owned his "fair brick-house." 

Among the most famous merchant houses about the time of 
the Revolution were the Morrises of Philadelphia and the 
Hancocks of Boston. John Hancock lived in a stately house 
fronting on Boston Common, with a ballroom 60 feet long, 
and furniture, wall paper, and hangings imported from 
England. He had beautiful mahogany furniture, elegant table 
silver, and, like other rich men of his time, dressed in magnifi- 
cent silk and velvet suits. He had his picture painted by a good 
artist, and felt himself to be one of the principal men of his time. 

77. Shipping and Sailors 

In New England and the middle colonies, one of the prin- 
cipal pursuits for men of all classes was following the sea, and 
they drew large wealth from the briny deep in several different 
ways: 

(i) The fisheries were a steady source of employment and 
profit. The New Englanders had access to the banks fisheries 
south of Newfoundland, to the offshore fisheries, especially in 
the neighborhood of Cape Cod, and to very valuable inshore 
fisheries. Their principal catch was cod and mackerel, which 
provided part of the daily food of a large part of the 
population and furnished a valuable export. The fisheries 
were nurseries for merchant seamen and helped to man the 
ships of war in the naval wars. 

(2) Shipbuilding was a flourishing industry all along the coast 
from Maryland north, especially where, as in Maine, splendid 
forests of tall timber grew alongside of deep salt water. Ship- 
building was a boon to New England, for it gave winter em- 
ployment to the farmers ; and when the ship was built it was 
manned by farmers' sons, and commanded by a farmer's son. 
American ships brought good prices in foreign markets and 
were an important export, 



I20 



Colonial Business 



(3) The business of sailing ships, on coasting voyages and on 
voyages to the West Indies and to European ports, was large 
and gave employment to thousands of men. Yankee ships found 
their way to the Mediterranean and to Africa. These long 
voyages, far out of reach of mails, made it necessary to place 
a large responsibility on the sea captain, who often showed 
amazing pluck, skill, and endurance. 

78. Commerce 

A lively and profitable commerce went on all the time from 
colony to colony, from the continent to the West Indies, and 

from all the colonics 
to England and other 
European countries. 
The principal exports 
were : to the West 
Indies, clapboards, 
hoops, shingles, hay 
and cattle, flour and 
provisions, especially 
dried fish, and (later) 
rum ; to England, 
tobacco, masts, wood 
ashes, furs, and (later) 
pig iron, rice, and 
indigo ; to other Euro- 
pean countries, dried 
fish and naval stores 
— pitch, tar, and 







To the PUBLIC. 

THE FLYING MACHINE, kept by 
John Mcrccrcau, 3t the New Blazin^-Sur Kerry 
near Nr« York, lets cH (rom Powles Hook every Mon' 
day, Wednefday, anJ Friday Mornings, for Fh'rl,,cjelphia, 
and performs Ihc Journey in a Day and a Half, for ihe 
Summer Seafon, lill Ihe ill of November , from lha( Time 
10 go (VIC* a Woek 1,11 (he HrlX of May, when 1 hey 
again perform il three Times a Week. When the Stages 
goonly lv.ice aWeek.lhey fet off Mondays and Thiirf 
days. The Waggons ,n Fhiladolphia fcl ou( from (he 
Sign of (he Geor^, in Second- Areef, the fame Mornini^. 
The PafTengers are defired (ocrofs Ihe Ferry Ih? Evening 
before, is tfle Stages mufl fel off early llie nejt Morning 
Tlie Price for each PalTenijer is Tw€rt)r i'A///i"j';, Proc. and 
Goods as ufual. Paffengers going Fori of the Way to pay 
in Proportion. 

As Ihe Proprlelor has msde fuch Improvemenis upon 
(he Macllinei, oneof which is in Imitalionof a Coach 

•J he hopes lOmerjt the Favour of (fie Publick. 

J- JOHN MERCEREAU. 



Advertisement of the " Flying Machine." 
(A Post wagon of 177 1.) 



turpentme. 

The imports from England were manufactures of all kinds — 
guns and ammunition, hardware, cutlery, clothing, furniture, 
glass, china, silverware, and tools. Tea, coffee, and chocolate 
were regular imports, often from Holland. The ladies 
would have their "calamancoes," or glossy woolens, their 



Commerce 



121 



"paduasoys," or silks, their "oznabrigs," or German linen, 
and the much-prized pins. For children, merchants imported 
"poppets," or dolls, and other toys; for the gentlemen, silks 
and velvets, gold lace for their best suits, and "pipes" of wine. 




A Colonial P'amily — the Grimes CmLDREN. (From the picture 
in the Virginia Historical Society.) 



Several new branches of trade developed after 1700, espe- 
rially the African slave trade. Under the treaty of Utrecht 
(1713) an English company, in which Queen Anne was one 
of the partners, got the Asiento, or privilege of carrying slaves 
from Africa to the Spanish West Indies. The New Englanders 
were quick to work up a profitable slave trade for themselves. 
Very few people protested against the trade or its shocking 
cruelties; and whenever the legislatures of the colonies 
tried to tax it for revenue, or for any other reason, the bills 



122 Colonial Business 

were vetoed in England because the trade was so profitable to 
the Enghsh merchant. 

Eventually so many slaves were brought that the people 
began to be frightened, and South CaroHna several times tried 
to lay duties on their importation. The slave traffic was con- 
nected with the manufacture of rum, which was carried to 
Africa to be exchanged for slaves ; part of the slaves were 
carried to the West Indies and exchanged for molasses ; and 
the molasses and the profits were brought home to New 
England to furnish raw material for more rum. The colo- 
nists liked to buy from the French and Spanish West Indies, 
but in the year 1733 the British government passed the 
so-called '' Molasses Act," which was intended to compel 
them to get their molasses only from the British West 
India colonies. 

79. Currency and Paper Money 

The standing difficulty in all kinds of business was the lack 
of a uniform and unvarying currency. The standard money 
basis of business and accounts was the English pound. Among 
the coins were gold guineas (21 shillings), and silver pieces 
from five shilUngs down. The conditions of trade with the 
West Indies brought in a varied mass of coins of all nations, 
especially the Mexican dollar. The name is derived from the 
"joachimsthaler," a silver piece coined in Austria, which 
became a standard in America. This mixed silver and gold 
currency was further confused by the issuance of paper 
money by the colonists, beginning with £40,000 printed by 
Massachusetts in 1690. Later, Massachusetts and other col- 
onies issued paper money and lent it to farmers on real estate 
security. This brought about a depreciation and loss through- 
out the colonies, so that the British government (1761-1763) 
prohibited the issue of paper money. A dollar was worth 
about four shillings in silver, but six Massachusetts paper 
shiUings went for a dollar; eight New York paper shilHngs 



Navigation Acts 123 

were required for the same value ; and there was a time when 
a Rhode Island note for ten pounds would not buy the value 
of ten shillings in specie. 

80. Navigation Acts 

For many years the colonists freely sent and received car- 
goes in trade with foreign countries ; but the policy of the 
early Navigation Acts was expanded by an act of Parliament 
(1672) laying small customs duties on the trade from one colony 
to another, or to other countries than England. This was the 
first act of Parliament for taxing the colonies. In 1696 a 
more thoroughgoing navigation act was passed by Parliament. 
Under these and other later "Acts of Trade," the commerce 
of the colonies was restricted as follows : 

(i) Trade to and from England had to be carried on in ships 
built and owned in England or in the colonies. (2) Importa- 
tions had to come through English ports ; that is, through 
the hands of English firms. (3) Exports of "enumerated goods " 
had to be sent only to English ports, even if intended ultimately 
for some other country ; most of the colonial products were 
enumerated, such as tobacco, sugar, rholasses, and furs, but not 
fish or provisions, timber, and the standard "naval stores." 
(4) For the protection of English manufactures, colonists were 
virtually forbidden to make rolled iron, or to ship certain goods 
from one colony to another — for instance, hats which might 
compete with English hats. Though all these restrictions seem 
harsh they indirectly gave a distinct advantage to colonial 
shipping. 

Spain, France, and Holland had even stricter colonial sys- 
tems than the English ; but the English colonists, sometimes 
by stealth, often with the connivance of local officials, managed 
to carry on a very profitable trade with the Spanish, French, 
and Dutch West Indies, especially in dried fish and lumber ; and 
they brought back molasses, tropical products, i,nd a good sur- 
plus of hard dollars, commonly called " pieces of eight." In the 



124 Colonial Business 

same way foreign vessels often brought European cargoes into 
North America, in defiance of the Navigation Acts. 

8i. Review 

By far the larger part of the English colonists were farmers, 
whose first task was to clear the soil, so that they might grow 
crops. In most places food, both vegetable and animal, was 
abundant. Besides the small farmers of the South, a class of 
slave-owning planters raised corn, tobacco, rice, and indigo. 
Cotton was not then a paying crop. Rich planters such as 
Colonel Fitzhugh lived handsomely. 

Part of the hard labor v^^as done by white wage-servants, 
or white indentured servants. There was a small class of 
skilled workmen in trades and some free negroes. In both 
North and South negro slaves existed, many of them brought 
direct from Africa. An antislavery movement began very early. 

Peddlers and country storekeepers bought small stocks of im- 
ported goods and sold them for farm products, furs, or money. 
Traders penetrated beyond the frontier and bought skins and 
furs from the Indians. In the large seaports a small number of 
wealthy merchants built fine houses, and lived splendidly. 

The principal calling besides farming was that of seafaring, 
including fisheries, shipbuilding, and sailing the ships. A good 
trade was carried on to the West Indies, another to England, 
and a smaller limited trade to other European countries. The 
slave trade was also profitable and was linked up with the trade 
in molasses from the West Indies. 

The colonies lacked a good currency, for their gold and silver 
coins were much mixed. Some of them issued paper money, 
but it was hurtful to business and was finally prohibited. After 
1660 Parliament passed "Acts of Trade" which were intended 
to throw colonial commerce as far as possible toward English 
ports and through English firms, and to prevent the importation 
of goods from other countries. Many colonists evaded these 
laws by active smuggling. 



References and Topics 125 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See map, p. loS. Coman, Indiist. Hist., 
52, 64, 75, 80. — Seraple, Geogr. Conditions, ch. vii. 

Secondary. Bogart, Econ. Hist., chs. iij-vi. — Channing, U .S., II. 
chs. xiii, xvii. — Coman, Indust. Hist., ch. iii. — Dewey, Finan. Hist., 
ch. i. — Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Cols., II. 222-235, 285-293 ; Old Va., II. 
174-203, 325-331, 338-369. — Greene, Provincial Am., chs. xvi, xvii. — 
Jacobstein, Tobacco Industry, ch. i. — Locke, Anti-Slavery in Am., 
9-45. — ■ Morriss, Col. Trade of Md. — Peabody, Merchan-t Voitiircrs 
of Saletn. — Stockton, Buccaneers and Pirates. 

Sources. Am. Hist. Leaflets, no. 19. — Bogart and Thompson, 
Readings, 20-142. — Callender, Econ. Hist., chs. ii, iii. — Hart, Con- 
temporaries, II. §§45, 46, 88, 89; Patriots and Statesmen, I. 153- 
156, 180-183, i9i~i94) 236. — -James, Readings, §§25-27. — Mac- 
Donald, Select Charters, nos. 22, 23, 25, 28, 34, 43, 50. 

Illustrative. Carruthe?rs, Knights of the Horseshoe (Va.). — Earle, 
Stage-Coach and Tavern Days. — Ingraham, Captain Kyd. — Johnston, 
Audrey (Va.). — Stockton, Kate Bonnet (pirates). 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., III. — Dunbar, Hist, of Travel in Am. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) The fur trade of the French on the St. Lawrence, or of the 
Dutch on the Hudson. [§ 71] ^ (2) Life on a Virginia plantation. [§ 73] 
— (3) Indentured white servants. [§ 74] — (4) Slave trade in Africa, 
or across the Atlantic. [§ 75] — (5) Slaves in the northern colonies, 
or in Virginia, or in South Carolina. [§ 75] — (6) Antislavery writers 
before 1720. [§ 75] — (7) Colonial shipbuilding. [§ 77] — (8) Trade in 
one of the following products : ashes ; naval stores ; fish ; iron ; furs. 
[§ 78] — (9) Coin in the colonies. [§ 79] — (10) Incidents of the paper 
money craze. [§ 79] 

Topics for Fiu-ther Search 

(11) Iron furnaces before 1775. [§ 71] — (12) Regulation of liquor 
selling before 1775. [§ 72] — (13) Account of one of the following 
classes from 1750 to 1775: poor white farmers; apprentices; Indian 
traders; merchant princes. [§§ 73, 76] — (14) The banks fisheries in 
colonial times. [§ 77] — (15) The Molasses Act. [§ 78] — (16) What 
were "enumerated goods"? [§ 80] — (17) Colonial smuggling. [§ 80] 



CHAPTER VIII 



CAUSES AND COURSE OF THE REVOLUTION (1763-1781} 



82. Spirit of Unrest 

' Considering the prosperity of the English colonies and the 
freedom of their government, we often wonder that as soon 
as the French and Indian War was over, they began to get into 
trouble with the home government ; and that after about ten 
years of friction and strife, they revolted and set up a govern- 
ment for themselves. To this day, it is not easy to see just 
why the colonists felt so dissatisfied. They professed and 
doubtless felt the warmest attachment to the king, whom God 

and Parliament had provided 
for them.<t They read Enghsh 
books, wore English clothes, 
and felt high respect for English 
visitors. After the crisis, John 
Adams said that nobody in the 
colonies had desired or planned 
independence before the Revo- 
lution. 

The great reason for the 
division of the British Empire 
into two parts seems to be that 
the colonists were so free and 
did so many things for them- 
selves that they could not see 
why they should not be relieved from almost all restraints. One 
reason for a change of feeling was the coming to the throne of 

126* 




George III, about 1765. (From 
a painting by Sir William Beechy.) 




Spirit of Unrest 127 

young King George III (1760). His predecessors, George land 
George II, were Germans who had Uttle interest in their EngUsh 
kingdom. George III said, "Born and bred in this country, I 
glory in the name of Briton.'" His mother used to say to him, 
"George, be a king"; and he 
soon began systematically to get 
away from the control by Par- 
liament and to build up a 
personal government. 

Opposed to the king's policy 
was a group of brilliant states- 
men, of whom the most famous 
were William Pitt (later Earl of 
Chatham), Charles James Fox, 
and Edmund Burke ; they coun- 
seled wise and moderate dealing 
with the colonies. 

A new spirit began to stir 
among the colonists when the 
danger of invasion by French 
neighbors ceased forever in 1763. 
As the French statesman Turgot 
had said, "Colonies are like 
fruits : they stick to the tree 
only while they are green ; as 
soon as they can take care of themselves they do what 
Carthage did and what America will do." 

On the other side of the ocean the home government 
also showed a new spirit by attempts to stiffen the Navigation 
Acts and to stop the evasions (§ 80). In 1764 a new "Sugar 
Act" was passed (§ 78) which laid a tax on sugar and coffee 
and other tropical products imported from any but the British 
West India colonies; the molasses duty was much reduced. 
Then followed in 1765 the first general tax ever laid by Par- 
liament upon the English colonies. The "Stamp Act" pro- 
hart's new amer. hist. — Q 



BcLll 

^31 ivy) 




'•/ 



„.^ 



Stamps used to Tax the 
Colonies. 



128 Causes and Course of the Revolution 

vided for "certain stamp duties, and other duties, in the 
British colonies and plantations in America, toward further 
defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and secur- 
ing the same." The duties were to be imposed on all sorts of 
legal documents, law proceedings, wills, licenses and com- 
missions, land patents, bills of sale; and also on playing 
cards, newspapers, pamphlets, advertisements, almanacs, and 
the like. The proceeds of the tax (estimated at £100,000 a 
year) were to go toward the expense of troops which were to 
be sent to America for the defense of the colonies. 

83. Colonial Ideas of the British Constitution 

Somehow the colonies would never accept the British assur- 
ance that these taxes would not be used to help support the 
British government. For some years the colonists had been 
trying to think out a theory of their relations to the British 
Empire which would make such action by Parliament unlawful. 

A brilliant and able young Massachusetts lawyer named 
James Otis argued against "writs of assistance" (1761), which 
authorized British customs officers to search any private house 
for smuggled goods. He raised the point that such a writ was 
contrary to the unwritten law of American liberty. "Reason 
and the constitution are both against this writ. . . . All prece- 
dents are under the control of the principles of law. . . . 
No acts of Parliament can establish such a writ. ... An act 
against the constitution is void." John Adams said of him, 
"Otis was Isaiah and Ezekiel united — Otis was a flame of fire 
— Otis's oration against writs of assistance breathed into this 
nation the breath of life." 

Notwithstanding Otis's argument, the writs of assistance 
were again issued in Massachusetts; but his speech and his 
later pamphlets stated three principles of great weight in the 
approaching Revolution: (i) that the colonists possessed 
certain inalienable personal rights; (2) that there was a tra- 
ditional system of colonial government, which could not be 



Stamp Act Controversy 129 

altered by Great Britain without the consent of the colonies ; 
(3) that under that system the colonies were united to Great 
Britain through the same sovereign, but were not a dependent 
part of Great Britain, nor subject to Parliament. 

In accordance with the practice of a century and a half 
(§ 57), the British government about this time vetoed a statute of 
Virginia which reduced the stipends of the established clergy, 
A test case was made (1763), commonly called "the Parson's 
Cause," in which Patrick Henry gained his first reputation and 
also won the jury by an argument that there was a limit to the 
legal control of the mother country over colonial legislation. 
In a bold and significant phrase he declared that "a King, by 
. . . disallowing acts of so salutary a nature, from being the 
Father of his people degenerates into a Tyrant, and forfeits 
all rights to his subjects' obedience." 

84. Stamp Act Controversy (1765) 

Against the Stamp Act (§ 82), the best writers in America 
poured forth a flood of argument and protest ; and they 
fashioned phrases which were the watchwords of the Revo- 
lution. 

(i) Taxation. They flatly denied the right of any one to 
lay taxes within the colonies, except the colonial governments. 
As one writer rhetorically put it, "If they have a right to im- 
pose a stamp tax, they have a right to lay on us a poll tax, 
a land tax, a window tax ; and why not tax us for the light of 
the sun, the air we breathe, and the ground we are buried in?" 

(2) Representation. To cover this point they laid down the 
maxim of "No taxation without representation"; and, they 
argued, how could they be represented in a Parliament thou- 
sands of miles away? 

(3) Nature of colonial government. They insisted that the 
colonists had an inherited right not to be ruled in such matters 
by Parliament. As the Boston merchant, John Hancock, 
said, "I will never carry on Business under such great disad- 



130 Causes and Course of the Revolution 

vantages and Burthen. I will not be a slave ; I have aright to 
the libertys & Privileges of the English Constitution, and I 
as an EngUshman will enjoy them." 

The movement passed very quickly from talk to outright 
opposition, which took the following serious forms : 

(i) Some of the colonial assemblies passed strong resolutions, 
such as Patrick Henry's Virginia Resolutions, which declared 
"That every attempt to vest such power in any other person or 
persons whatever than the General Assembly aforesaid, is 
illegal, unconstitutional, and unjust, and has a manifest tend- 
ency to destroy British as well as American liberty." 

(2) Two more quiet but effective means were the organi- 
zation of "Sons of Liberty," a kind of patriotic society; and an 
attempt to boycott British goods. 

(3) In many places mobs made discussion impossible: the 
stamps were seized, stamp distributors were threatened and 
compelled to resign, or were burned in effigy before their own 
doors, and their property destroyed. In thus forsaking an 
orderly government, and resorting to violence, the people who 
engaged in these outbreaks damaged their own cause. 

(4) The most effective method was the holding of a Stamp 
Act Congress of delegates from nine colonies, in New York, 
October 7, 1765. They petitioned the British government to 
withdraw the act, and drew up a formal statement of "The 
most essential rights and liberties of the colonists, and of the 
grievances under which they labor." 

When November i came, the date for putting the Stamp 
Art in force, it was entirely ignored, and documents were simply 
left without stamps. Parliament finally decided to repeal the 
act ; but it claimed the right to pass acts binding upon the 
colonies. 

85. Revolution Approaching (i 767-1 773) 

Tht way was thus kept open for a renewal of the struggle, 
Ey the To^vnshepd Act ir? 1767, Parliament laid new duties on 



Revolution Approaching 131 

paper, painter's colors, glass, and tea imported into the colonies, 
the proceeds to be used for the salaries of the colonial governors 
and judges. The result was a warm protest. John Dickinson of 
Pennsylvania, in his Letters from a Farmer, called upon his coun- 
trymen by practical and law-abiding methods to "take care of 
our rights, and we therein take care of our prosperity . . . slavery 
is ever preceded by sleep." Nonimportation agreements were 
made in many parts of the colonies and signed by men like 
George Washington. Soon after (1768), two regiments of red- 
coats were ordered to Boston "to strengthen the hands of the 
government in the Province of Massachusetts Bay." As a 
witty Boston clergyman said, "Our grievances are now all 
red-dressed." 

The coming of troops, intended to overawe and not to defend, 
incensed all the colonies. In March, 1770, there was a fight 
between the troops and the populace in Boston in which five 
persons were killed. The unsuitable name of "Boston Mas- 
sacre" was appHed to the unfortunate affair. The offensive 
Townshend duties were withdrawn in 1770 after producing 
£16,000 at a cost of about £200,000; but the British gov- 
ernment stupidly insisted on the principle of taxation, by 
leaving in force the former tea duty of threepence a pound. 

Feeling ran especially high in Massachusetts, where the 
struggle became almost a personal contest between Thomas 
Hutchinson, the governor, and Samuel Adams, leader of the 
popular party. Hutchinson's letters to friends in England, 
urging that " there must be an abridgement of what are called 
English liberties," gave great offense to the colonists. 

Things grew so squally that in 1772 Samuel Adams obtained 
from the Boston town meeting the appointment of a Com- 
mittee of Correspondence "to state the Rights of the colonists 
and of this Province in particular ... to communicate and 
publish the same to the several Towns in this Province and to 
the World." A "continental committee" was subsequently 
started by Virginia, and eleven other colonies appointed similar 



132 Causes and Course of the Revolution 

committees, which corresponded with each other and prepared 
for later joint action. 

The climax was -reached by the effort of the British East 
India Company to send shipments of tea to the principal co- 
lonial ports. The tea duty was not much felt, because the 
colonists usually drank smuggled tea ; but to help the British 
East India Company out of financial difhculties, the home 
government gave it such privileges that it was able to under- 
sell the smugglers, and in August, 1773, tea ships were dis- 
patched to the principal colonial ports. If the tea were landed 
and the duty paid, the right of taxation was admitted. Hence, 
upon the arrival of the tea ships in Philadelphia, New York, 
and some other places, they were sent back without unloading. 
Efforts to this end in Boston were foiled ; but a meeting of 
five or six thousand people was held in and around the Old 
South Church in Boston (December 16, 1773) to make a final 
protest against the landing of the tea. Suddenly a war whoop 
was heard outside, and two hundred men boarded the ships 
and flung into the sea tea worth £18,000 (about $90,000). 
An eyewitness says: "They say the actors were Indians from 
Narragansett. Whether they were or not, to a transient ob- 
server they appear'd as such, being cloath'd in Blankets 
with the heads mufBed, and copper-color 'd countenances." 
Children who next morning found their fathers' shoes full of 
tea kept their own counsel. 

86. First Continental Congress (1774) 

To the royal government in England, the Boston Tea Party 
appeared to be an act of outrageous violence, for which Boston 
and Massachusetts deserved such a punishment as would give 
warning to the other colonies. Hence a set of statutes some- 
times called "The Intolerable Acts" was hastily passed by 
Parliament (1774): the port of Boston was thereby closed; 
the charter of Massachusetts was set aside ; and town meetings 
were forbidden. To put these measures into force. General 



First Continental Congress 133 

Thomas Gage was sent over to be governor of Massachusetts. 
The Salem merchants offered their wharves to their Boston 
brethren, and from south to north came expressions of sym- 
pathy with Massachusetts. By this time resistance to taxes 
laid by Parliament had carried the country to the verge of 
revolution. 

The colonies immediately accepted a proposition of Virginia, 
formally stated by the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 
for a colonial congress; and on September 5, 1774, at Philadel- 
phia, delegates came together from twelve colonies, Georgia alone 
not being represented. Among the distinguished members of 
this body were John Adams and Samuel Adams of Massachu- 
setts, John Jay of New York, John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, 
Peyton Randolph, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and 
George Washington of Virginia, and John Rutledge of South 
Carolina. This so-called "First Continental Congress" took 
important action in three directions : 

(i) It drew up dignified and loyal protests against the treat- 
ment of Massachusetts and of the colonies in general, it respect- 
fully petitioned the king to remove their grievances, and it 
sent out a series of addresses explaining the situation. 

(2) Congress drew up a Declaration of Rights, which laid 
claim to the liberties and immunities of Englishmen, including 
a "Right of Representation ... in all Cases of Taxation and 
internal Polity, subject only to the Negative of their Sovereign." 
Various acts of Parliament were enumerated which were de- 
clared to be "infringements and violations of the rights of the 
colonists." 

(3) Congress voted the "Association" (October 20, 1774), 
which was an agreement for a boycott on an immense scale : 
no British goods (including slaves) were to be imported or 
sold. From north to south there was an era of terrorism ; mob 
methods were called in ; and the ship captain who arrived in 
port with a shipload of British merchandise was a fortunate man 
if allowed even to sail away again with his goods on board. 



134 Causes and Course of the Revolution 

Before adjourning, the Congress took measures to call 
another Congress to meet in May, i775, if meanwhile the 
grievances had not been redressed. 

87. Outbreak of the Revolutionary War (1775) 
Many of the men who took part in the movement so far, 
including some members of the Congress, believed that this 
dignified remonstrance would bring the home government to 
terms. They did not realize the stubbornness of the king or 
the unwillingness of the English nation to accept the idea of 




Battle of Lexington, April 19, i77S- (From Earl's drawing, 
made a few days later.) 

colonies that must not be governed by Parliament. During 
the winter, while the colonists were waiting to hear the de- 
cision, a political storm was coming on in Massachusetts. The 
patriot leaders organized what they called a "Provincial Con- 
gress" in which the central authority was a ''Committee of 
Safety" which began to collect military stores and to organize 



Outbreak of the Revolutionary War 135 

*' Minutemen " — militiamen who should be ready to march 
at a minute's notice. 

The British garrison in Boston, numbering now about 5000 
men, chafed under this preparation of a hostile force and put 
the matter to a test by sending out a column of 800 men 
to seize the stores at Concord. Warning of their coming was 
given during the night by Paul Revere of Boston and other 
swift riders, who galloped through the countryside arousing the 
people. When the British van appeared early in the morning 
(April 19, 1775), on 
the green at Lexington, 
they found a line of pro- 
vincial militia drawn 
up. It is uncertain 
just how the fight be- 
gan ; an English officer 
who was present at the 
battle says, "On our 
approach they dis- 
persed and soon after, 
firing began ; but which party fired first I cannot exactly say, as 
our troops rushed on shouting and huzzaing previous to the 
firing." When the smoke cleared away, seven patriots were 
found killed and nine wounded. The responsibility for this out- 
break of open war goes back to the king of Great Britain, who 
had forced matters to this issue ; and it is shared by men like 
Samuel Adams and Washington who were ready to resist the 
authority of the mother country rather than yield what they 
felt to be their rights. 

From Lexington the British marched seven miles to Con- 
cord, where a body of militia boldly marched down to oppose 
them, and beat them back at a little bridge where now stands 
the statue of the Minuteman. 

" Here once the embattled farmers stood 
And fired the shot heard round the world." 




Vicinity of Boston. 



136 Causes and Course of the Revolution 

After destroying some of the patriots' stores, the weary Brit- 
ish troops returned tc Boston, harassed by the miUtia, with a 
total loss of 273 British to 93 Americans. The beaten force at 
last reached the shelter of the guns on the British ships. 

On the news of the battle of Lexington, virtual war began 
throughout most of the thirteen colonies ; for the people of the 
middle and southern colonies showed their sympathy with 
Massachusetts by driving out their governors and setting up 
provincial congresses and conventions which assumed the 
government. 

88. The Nation in Arms (1775-1776) 

In the midst of this excitement, the so-called Second Con- 
tinental Congress met in Philadelphia (1775) and sat in the build- 
ing now called Independence Hall. Every one of the thirteen 
colonies was soon represented (May 15), and Congress at once 
became the center of organization for the war. Without any 
formal authority from the colonial governments, but supported 
by their good will and assent, Congress made itself a national 
government. For example, from May to July, 1775, it for- 
bade certain exportations, ordered a state of defense, organized 
a post office, voted an American continental army, appointed 
George Washington commander in chief, authorized bills of 
credit, sent a last petition to the king, and considered Frank- 
lin's scheme for a federal constitution. 

Without waiting for any action by Congress, the Massachu- 
setts men besieged Boston. They were reenforced by militia 
from the neighboring New England colonies, and (June 17, 
1775) an attempt was made to plant a battery on Bunker Hill, 
in order to command the city. The patriots were finally 
driven out of their intrenchments by three desperate assaults 
of the British, who lost over one thousand men out of three 
thousand engaged. The American defeat was really a vic- 
tory, for the Minutemen proved their bravery against regulars, 
and the British did not again attempt to sally out of Boston. 



The Nation in Arms 



137 



Shortly after the battle General Washington, the new com- 
mander in chief, arrived to take charge of the siege of Boston. 
He drew up the troops on Cambridge Common, under or near 
an elm tree which is still standing, and assumed formal com- 
mand. 

While the siege was progressing, two little armies, under 
Montgomery and Benedict Arnold, made their way into Can- 
ada, which they all 
but conquered. The 
Canadians held off, for 
they did not under- 
stand this kind of 
friendship and had no 
mind to exchange Brit- 
ish rulers for near-by 
American masters. At 
the end of the winter 
(March, 1776), Wash- 
ington succeeded in 
fortifying Dorchester 
Heights and thus forc- 
ing the British army, 
still numbering 10,000 
soldiers and sailors, to leave Boston. They went on board 
the British fleet and sailed for Halifax. 

By this time, it became clear that though there was a strong 
minority in England who were opposed to this war between 
brethren, the king had a firm hold upon ParHament ; and the 
only safety for the colonists was to fight it out. Hence during 
1776, on the advice of Congress, several colonies drew up writ- 
ten constitutions of their own, suitable for permanent govern- 
ments. The nex-i step was the world-famous vote of Congress, 
of the Declaration of Independence, dated July 4, 1776, declar- 
ing that "these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, 
Free and Independent States." 







The Craigie House, Cambridge. (Used 
as headquarters by General Washington in 
1775-1776.) 



138 Causes and Course of the Revolution 



89. The Rival Forces 

Thus to throw down the gage to Great Britain was a bold 
step, for the two parties were very unequal. Great Britain was 
a rich country for the times, fruitful and productive. It was 
the most important manufacturing nation in the world, and 
was just on the point of adapting steam power to machinery ; 

it had an immense com- 
mercial marine, and pos- 
sessed the largest and 
most powerful navy in 
the world. 

Against the might of 
Great Britain was opposed 
a poor country, with no 
large manufactures of iron 
or cloth, hardly able to 
cast a cannon. Yet Amer- 
ica was a land of comfort 
and prosperity. Lafayette 
wrote of it, "Simplicity of 
manners, kindness, love 
of country and of liberty, 
and a delightful equality 
everywhere prevails. . . . 
All the citizens are breth- 
ren. In America there are no poor, or even what we call 
peasantry." Even during the war the colonists made money 
from privateering and from West India and European trade, and 
bought the necessary materials of war with their exports. 

The British were overwhelmingly superior in the size of 
their mihtary and naval forces, although much hampered by 
the necessity of transporting men and materials across a stormy 
sea. In 1776 they had 270 ships of war, and for men they drew 
on 11,000,000 people in Great Britain and Ireland, besides the 




English Light Dragoon, about 17: 
(Type of the British cavalryman.) 



The Rival Forces 



139 



loyalists in the American colonies. Yet the British govern- 
ment committed the stupid blunder of hiring 30,000 Hessians 
from Germany, who had no personal interest in the struggle, and 
were leased by their princes like so many cattle. "Were I an 
American," said Chatham, "as I am an Enghshman, while a 
foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay 
down my arms — never — never — ^ never"; and Franklin 
wrote grimly, "The 



iKiliSli^iPiVYi 




''l'fi','| VnEARTHIS,5,P0T.''' "i,''!.'; 
,,s'sAii^t)E;L WHITTet^pRE 
''ii;\ THEW 80 YEARS OLD ' ' 
, KlUtO THREE BRITISH SOLDIERS 

^';';'1(;!j'i';.\'aprili9 1775. '", --^ 

', ■ ' he; Was shot, BAYONETEDt'ifM. 
BEATEN AND LEFT FOR DEAD. 
I BUT RECOVERED AND LIVED 

' 'I'l.jTjll^ESB YEARS OF ACE. 



German auxiliaries are 
certainly coming; it is 
our business to prevent 
their returning." 

Out of the 3,000,000 
people in the colonies, 
the loyalists and ne- 
groes numbered at least 
1,200,000. There were 
from 300,000 to 400,000 
able-bodied patriots, of 
whom perhaps 250,000 
served in the army at 
one time or another; 
but they never num- 
bered more than 40,000 
men under arms at one 
time, and sometimes the total force available for striking a blow 
was not above 5000. On the patriot side besides soldiers of 
English descent, there were many Germans, Irish, and Scotch, 
some Dutch, Jews, French, and Welsh, and several thousand 
negroes, especially from Rhode Island. Both sides made the 
moral and military mistake of enlisting Indian allies. The 
Americans were first to seek this dubious aid; the British 
used it most effectively. 

The main difficulty with the army was that the states in- 
sisted on furnishing miUtia on short terms of service, instead 






A Tough Old Patriot. (Monument in 
Arlington, then Menotomy, near Boston.) 





140 



Campaigns of 17 76-1 777 141 

of allowing Congress to form a sufficient regular force with 
national officers, enlisted for the war. Washington said of 
the militia, "The system appears to have been pernicious 
beyond description. ... It may be easily shown, that all the 
misfortunes we have met with in the military line are to be 
attributed to this cause." 

Many soldiers of fortune drifted over from Europe to seek 
employment, besides Lafayette, a French nobleman, who 
brought his own enthusiasm and the silent support of the 
French government. The German Baron von Steuben, an 
excellent soldier, skillfully drilled the troops and introduced 
improved tactics. The Poles Kosciusko and Pulaski and the 
French general De Kalb were gallant soldiers. 

90. Campaigns of 1776-1777 

The Revolution was a long and 
hard-fought war, with many inci- 
dents, skirmishes, and sea fights; 
but the pitched battles were few and 
the details of the engagements and 
sieges are not essential. We are in- 
terested chiefly in the critical strug- 
gles and the final mihtary results. 

The first success of the American 
patriots at Boston was followed by 
a brilliant victory near Charleston. 
A British attack on that city was 
beaten off by skillful fighting, in 
which Sergeant Jasper distinguished 
himself for bravery. 

Then in August, 1776, came a 
severe defeat. Sir Wilham Howe 
landed with a British army of 20,000 

men on Long Island. Washington j^^^^^ monument, 

had never before commanded an army Charleston, S. C. 




142 Causes and Course of the Revolution 

in the field or defended a country, and his force of iSpoo 
men was badly defeated. The British maneuvered him out 
of the city of New York, followed, him northward and then 
southwestward across New Jersey till he crossed the Delaware 
River, his army sometimes falHng below 3000 men. Almost 
in despair Washington wrote, "If every 
nerve is not strained to recruit the new 
army with all possible expedition, I 
think the game is pretty nearly up." 
But for the heroic efforts of Robert 
Morris, a wealthy merchant of Phila- 
delphia, who raised money on his 
personal credit to keep the army 
together, the Revolution might have 
failed then and there. To prevent 
the British following him to Phila- 
delphia, Washington boldly took the 
offensive, crossed the Delaware, and 
successfully attacked the British at 
Trenton and Princeton. 

In the spring of 1777, the British 
entered on a well-planned scheme to 
cut the new United States in two, 
by pushing one army up the Hudson 
and sending another southward from 
Canada to meet it. General Howe, 
who lay in New York, had the bad judgment to take away 
his part of the forces for a separate attack on Philadelphia. 
He carried his troops around by sea to the head of Chesa- 
peake Bay and defeated Washington in a pitched battle 
at the river Brandywine (September, 1777). Two v/eeks 
later Howe entered Philadelphia and remained there until 
the following summer. 

Meanwhile General Burgoyne started southward from Mont- 
real with an army of about 8000 men, including Hessians. 




Battle Monument at 
Oriskany. 



Campaigns of 1 776-1777 143 

He put forth a bombastic proclamation in which he said, "I 
have but to give stretch to the Indian forces under my direc- 
tion . . . and the messengers of justice and wrath await them 
in tlie field ; and devastation, famine, and every concomitant 
horror.'" Instead he found a hornets' nest. American patriots 
poured in from near-by New England until Burgoyne was far out- 
numbered; other patriots checked a British expedition into 
the Mohawk valley at the battle of Oriskany, where the patriot 
General Herkimer did good service ; most of Burgoyne's Indians 
deserted him ; and the expected British aid up the Hudson failed 
to materiahze. Burgoyne was at last confronted by Arnold 
and others, active subordinates of the apathetic Gates, who 




*>-.<'*t**^?^,.,, 



Schuyler Mansion, Albany. (Where General Burgoyne was 
entertained after his surrender at Saratoga.) 

was put in command against Washington's desire. After two 
hard fights Burgoyne was obliged to surrender his whole re- 
maining army at Saratoga, October 17, 1777. The prisoners 
were 3500 British and Hessian troops, with 2300 volunteers 
and camp followers. The defeat was the turning point of the 
hart's new amer. hist. — 10 



144 Causes and Course of the Revolution 

war, for the overthrow of the boastful proclamation-maker 
gave the patriot cause new life. In the words of a popular 
squib, 

" Burgoyne, alas ! unknowing future fates, 
Could force his way through woods, but not through Gates." 

91. Dark Time of the Revolution (i 777-1 778) 

Notwithstanding this brilliant victory, the Revolution 
almost collapsed during the winter of 1 777-1 778. Newport, 
New York, and Philadelphia were all held by the British, and 
reenforcements and supplies came to them steadily from over 
the sea, while Washington's army at Valley Forge was living 
miserably in a camp village of log huts. Fuel was plentiful, 
but food and clothing were scanty, not because there was any 
scarcity in the country, but because so many of the neighboring 
people were disaffected, and the roads were so bad that it was 
almost impossible to bring supplies which were stored only a 
few miles away. At one time, out of a force of at most 11,000 
men, 2898 were reported unable to go on duty for want of 
clothing. Yet the spirit of the troops was excellent ; one of 
the oflEicers wrote: "See the poor Soldier ... if barefoot he 
labours thro' the Mud & Cold with a Song in his Mouth ex- 
tolling War & Washington — if his food be bad — he eats 
it notwithstanding with seeming content." 

One cause of the suffering of the soldiers was the bad man- 
agement of the commissary officers ; back of that was the weak- 
ness of Congress, of which Alexander Hamilton said, "Their 
conduct, with respect to the army especially, is feeble, inde- 
cisive, and improvident." It was a time of great losses; nine 
hundred American merchant vessels had already been taken; 
thousands of men had lost their lives or were prisoners in bar- 
barous prison ships, or had returned home wounded or diseased. 
The states hung back, each hoping that other states would 
furnish the necessary men, and therefore Congress lost spirit 
and influence. 



George Washington, the Indispensable 145 

92. George Washington, the Indispensable 

The one beacon light which shone steadily was General 
George Washington. Every other Revolutionary hero and 
patriot could have been replaced ; Washington alone was the 
indispensable man. He was a Virginian, and his appoint- 
ment gave conlidence to the southern states ; he was a soldier 
who outranked in service and experience nearly all the other 
officers in the army ; he was careful of his men ; he was a man 
of extraordinary industry and mastery of details, keeping up 
correspondence all over the country. As a general Wash- 
ington showed a splendid pertinacity : he learned by his own 
defeats ; if beaten in one place, he would reappear in another. 
He was extraordinarily long-suffering and patient, and he had 
a magnificent temper; that is, though naturally hot and im- 
petuous, he kept himself under rigid control, except when a 
crisis came, and on such occasions, as a contemporary records, 
"Washington swore like an angel from heaven." 

Washington bore personal slights with wonderful dignity. 
He wrote to Congress of "the wounds which my feelings as 
an officer have constantly received from a thousand things 
that have happened contrary to my expectation and wishes." 
Especially did he shine out in the so-called Conway Cabal of 
1778, the purpose of which was to put Gates, "the hero of 
Saratoga," over his head. The cabal fell to pieces when a 
letter from Conway was made public, in which he said, 
"Heaven has been determined to save your country, or a weak 
General and bad counselors would have ruined it." Gates 
shortly after withdrew from command in the field. 

After all, the greatest of Washington's qualities was a rug- 
ged manliness which gave him the respect and confidence 
even of his enemies. Though he was at the head of a military 
force, nobody ever for a moment believed that he would use it 
to secure power for himself. Wisdom, patience, and personal 
influence over men were wonderfully united in Washington — 



146 Causes and Course of the Revolution 

the greatest man in the Revolution, and, with the exception of 
Lincoln, the greatest of all Americans. 

93. Alliance with France (17 78-1 780) 

The capture of Burgoyne saved the American Republic, 
because it made a profound impression upon the government 
of France, which for three years had remained neutral in the 
struggle, although doing much harm to its enemy Great Britain 
by secret aid in arms and money to the revolted colonies. Ben- 
jamin Franklin, as United States minister to France, was able to 
secure two treaties (February 6, 1778) by which the French 
recognized the independence of the United States, and promised 
to make common cause in the war until Great Britain should 
yield. 

England vainly tried to head off this alliance and sent 
commissioners who offered to give up the disputed taxation if 
the colonies would return to their allegiance. The French had 
a good fleet and sent over troops and ships which obliged the 
British to withdraw from Philadelphia and concentrate in 
New York (June, 1778). From that time, there was no more 
heavy fighting in the north. 

France also gave aid and comfort to the American navy. 
First the states and then the federal government organized 
naval forces, with one of which the island of New Provi- 
dence in the West Indies was raided. In 1777 John Paul 
Jones, a former British merchant captain, was appointed 
captain of the ship Ranger and with it landed at two places 
on the British coast and captured the British ship-of-war 
Drake. Then with the Bon Homme Richard, transformed from a 
French merchant ship, Jones attacked and captured the Sera pis, 
a forty-four-gun British ship. When the British captain called 
across demanding a surrender, Jones answered, " I have not 
yet begun to fight." This daring officer never had another 
chance in a good ship, and at the end of the war hardly an 
armed ship was afloat that carried the stars and stripes. 



American Victory 147 

94. American Victory (i 780-1 781) 

Failing to break the center, the British transferred their ac- 
tive hostihties to the south, took Savannah (1778) and then 
Charleston (1780). Then the British under Lord Cornwallis 
in 17S0 pushed into the interior of the Carolinas. Cornwallis 
tried to establish a Royalist government, and the country was 
ravaged by irregular ''partisan" troops, who were guilty of 
excesses on both sides. The patriots Marion and Sumter with 
militia and guerrillas somehow kept the field. General Gates 
was badly defeated by the British at Camden (August, 17S0). 
A few weeks later a force of 1200 Royalist troops was attacked 
by the militia and destroyed or taken at Kings Mountain 
(October). This important battle was won by western settlers 
under John Sevier from across the mountains. 

In 1780 the patriot cause almost perished through the treason 
of Benedict Arnold, a brave veteran of many battles who was 
deep in debt and was willing to sell the important post of West 
Point for $30,000 and a major general's commission. For- 
tunately the British agent. Major John Andre, was taken at 
the critical moment (September 23, 1780) ; West Point was 
saved, and with it the line of communication with New Eng- 
land. Since Andre was traveling through the American lines 
in disguise, he was a spy, and was justly executed as a spy, 
though his captors bore tribute to his brave and manly char- 
acter. Arnold received the promised reward from the British, 
and lived a miserable life, the betrayer of his own country. 

During 1781 General Nathanael Greene was in command 
of the American forces in the South. The British were defeated 
at Cowpens and suffered great losses at Guilford. Cornwallis 
then withdrew, and invaded Virginia with the aid of Benedict 
Arnold. Washington aided the patriots in the South by hold- 
ing the British forces in New York. He sent Lafayette to defend 
Virginia, and the British were soon cooped up in Yorktown 
awaiting reenforcement. At this critical juncture, a French 



148 Causes and Course of the Revolution 

fleet under De Grasse blockaded the Chesapeake and repulsed a 
British fleet bearing troops, while Washington at the right 
moment made a brilliant dash southward from the Hudson, 

together with a 
French force under 
Rochambeau, and 
closed the net on 
the land side. 
After a spirited 
siege at York town, 
CornwaUis surren- 
dered his whole 
army of 7000 men 
(October 19,1781). 
Thus after seven 
annual campaigns 
the British held 
Charleston, and Savannah. 




Birthplace of Lafayette. (Purchased by 
Americans for a Memorial Museum.) 



only the cities of New York, 
The war was practically over. 



95. Review 

During the twelve years from 1763 to 1775, the colonies ceased 
to be contented with their relation to Great Britain, and rose 
to the point of revolt. The main causes of this change of feeling 
were : (i) the attempt to enforce the Navigation Acts, includ- 
ing the use of writs of assistance; (2) taxation for revenue 
by Parliament, including the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend 
duties of 1767, and the tea duties in 1773 ; (3) the belief that 
the colonists had certain rights under what they called "The 
Constitution," noted arguments for which were framed by James 
Otis and Patrick Henry ; (4) the consciousness of common in- 
terest and ability to take care of themselves, shown in the Stamp 
Act Congress of 1765 ; (5) irritation over the presence of troops 
in Boston, shown by the so-called Boston Massacre of 1770, and 
the Boston Tea Party of 1773, and by resistance in April, 1775. 



References 149 

A few Americans, especially Samuel Adams, expected trouble 
and began to organize through Committees of Correspondence. 
In 1774, the First Continental Congress was called, which 
represented twelve colonies in drawing up petitions, issuing a 
Declaration of Rights, and voting the Association, which was 
a boycott on British goods. 

The fight at Lexington and Concord, April ig, 1775, was the 
beginning of a civil war. After the battle of Bunker Hill (June), 
the British were shut up in Boston, and in 1776 were obliged to 
evacuate the place. They then made preparations to subdue 
the colonists, and enlisted mercenary Hessians. The patriots 
were aided by their superior numbers, and by French, German, 
and Polish soldiers who came over to fight with and for them. 
Washington was all but driven from the field in 1776, but rallied ; 
and Burgoyne's British army was captured at Saratoga in 1777. 
Washington was the soul of the Revolution. The French in 
1778 made a treaty of alliance and sent over ships and soldiers 
which aided the Americans to capture the second British army 
at York town (1781). That practically ended the war. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 135, 140. — Avery, U.S., V, 
VI. — Becker, Beginnings, 180, 272. — Howsird, Prelijninaries of the 
Rev. — Sample, Geogr. Conditions, 46-74. — Shepherd, Hist. Atlas, 194, 
195. — Van Tyne, Am. Rev. — Winsor, America, VI. 

Secondary. Cambridge Mod. Hist., VII. chs. v-vii. — Channing, 
U.S., III. chs. i-vi, viii-xi. — • Fish, Am. Dipl., chs. iii, iv. — Fiske, Am. 
Rev. — Greene, Rev. War. — Hapgood, Paul Jones. '■ — Hosmer, Samuel 
Adams, chs. ii-xix. — Howard, Preliminaries of the Rev. — Lodge, 
Washington, I. chs. v-x ; Story of the Rev. — Maclay, U .S. Navy, I. 
34-151. — McCrady, So. Carolina, II. chs. xxvii-xli, III, IV. — Morse, 
Benjamin Franklin, chs. vi, vii, ix-xi. ■ — Paullin, Navy of the Am,. Rev. — 
Sloane, French War and Rev., chs. x-xvi, xx-xxviii. — Smith, Wars be- 
tween Engl, and Am., chs. i-v. — Van Tyne, Am. Rev., chs. ii, iii, vii- 
xv'ii passim. — Wilson, Am. People, II. chs. iii, iv. 

Sources. Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 143-175. — Harding, 
Select Orations, nos. 1-4. — Hart, Contemporaries, II. §§ 130-133, 138- 
158, 170-183, 191-204, 211-214; Patriots and Statesmen, I. 247-380, II, 



150 Causes and Course of the Revolution 

52-185 passim. — Hill, Liberty Docs., ch. xii. — Johnston, Am. Orations, 
I. 11-23. — -MacDonald, Select Charters, nos. 55-80. — Old South 
Leaflets, nos. 47, 68, 86, 156, 173, 179, 199, 200, 202. 

Illustrative. Barr, Bow of Orange Ribbon (N.Y.). — Brady, Blue 
Ocean's Daughter (privateers). — Churchill, Richard Carvel (Paul Jones). 

— Cooke, Fairfax; Henry St. John; Stories of the Old Dominion, 140- 
218; Virginia Comedians. — Cooper, Lionel Lincoln (Boston); The 
Pilot; The Spy. — • Frederic, In the Valley (Mohawk). — -Hawthorne, 
Edward Randolph's Portrait; Grandfather's Chair, pt. iii ; Howe's 
Masquerade; Major M olineux {moh) ; Septimius Felton (Concord). — 
Holmes, Grandmother's' Story of Bunker Hill. — Longfellow, Paul 
Revere's Ride. — Lowell, Concord Ode; Ode for the Fott-rth of July, 
18^6. — Simms, Eutaw; Forayers; Katherine Walton; Mellichampe; 
Partisan (all on So. Carolina). — Thompson, Green Mountain Boys. 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., V, VI. — Chase, Beginnings of the Am. 
Rev. — Fiske, Am. Rev. (illus. ed.). — Hammond, Quaint and Historic 
Forts. — Lossing, Field Book of the Revolution. — Mentor, serial no. 53. 

— Wilson, Am. People, II. — Winsor, America, VI; Boston, III. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Objections to the Stamp Act. [§ 82] — (2) Patrick Henrj^ as a 
young lawyer. [§ 83] — (3) The Sons of Liberty. [§ 84] — (4) Anti- 
Stamp Act mobs. [§ 84] — (5) Incidents of Stamp Act Congress. [§ 84] 

— (6) Contemporary accounts of the Boston Tea Party. [§ 85] — 
(7) Incidents in the First Continental Congress. [§ 86] — - (8) Account 
of the Minutemen. [§ 87] — (9) Contemporary accounts of the battle of 
Lexington and Concord. [§ 87] — (10) Incidents in the Second Con- 
tinental Congress. [§ 88] — - (11) General Washington's siege of Boston. 
[§ 88] — (12) Colonial soldiers previous to the Revolution. [§ 89] — 
(13) Use of Hessians, or of Indians, or of loyalists, in the Revolution. 
[§ 89] — (14) The American soldier at Valley Forge. [§ 91] — (15) 
Washington's camp life. [§92] 

Topics for Further Search 

(16) Interest in America of owe of the following English statesmen: 
Pitt; Fox; Burke. [§ 82] — (17) Was "No taxation without repre- 
sentation " a right of the colonists? [§ 84] — (18) Objections to sending 
British troops to Boston [§ 85], or to the "Intolerable Acts." [§ 86] — 
(19) Results of the Committees of Correspondence [§ 85], or of the 
Association of 1774. [§86] — (20) Troubles with the militia. [§ 89] — 
(21) Services to the Revolution of Lafayette, or Von Steuben, or De 
Kalb. [§ 89] — (22) How did Arnold's treason fail? [§ 94] 



# 



CHAPTER IX 

BUILDING OF A NEW NATION (1775-1781) 

96. Patriots and Loyalists 

The rapid survey of the military events of the Revolution, 
as given in the last chapter, might be much enlarged with 
sketches of the military leaders and incidents of heroic courage. 
But it is more important for us to know, instead, some details 
of the interior civil life of the country, and of the manner in 
which a national government was built up. 

At the beginning of the struggle, the colonists were living 
mostly in a narrow belt of territory, stretching along the tide- 
water front. There were some interior settlements in southern 
New Hampshire and Vermont, the lower Connecticut valley, 
the valley of the Mohawk, western Pennsylvania, and the 
valleys of the Kentucky and Tennessee rivers. At the begin- 
ning of the war, some far western settlers were afraid because 
of Indian hostilities, and came back across the mountains ; but 
they soon returned and built up the settlements in what are 
now central Kentucky and east Tennessee. 

The American cause in all quarters of the country was se- 
riously weakened because the colonists were themselves divided 
John Adams later estimated that fully a third of the people 
were opposed to the war at the beginning and were still more 
strongly against independence. Hence the years of the war 
were full of commotion, tumult, and violence against the loyal- 
ists. Those Americans who ventured to maintain that the 
British government was not tyrannical, were intimidated, 

15; 



152 Building of a New Nation 

arrested, imprisoned, tarred and feathered, and in some cases 
executed. As the struggle grew fiercer, the colonists passed 
laws banishing the loyalists or confiscating their property. 
In many districts the struggle was a civil war in which hun- 
dreds of the Tories, as the loyalists were called, were kept down 
by force. The Tories in the New England and middle com- 
monwealths included most of the well-to-do classes, the former 
colonial ofiicials and their friends, old officers of the British 
army, many of the clergy and of the graduates of colleges. 
In some states nearly half the people were loyalists. Thou- 
sands of them entered the British ar^ny and fought against their 
brethren ; and thousands of families removed to Nova Scotia, 
Quebec, and other British colonies. 

97. Patriot Leaders 

It was an immense aid to the patriots that most of the 
men who were leaders in the colonies adhered to the Revolu- 
tion. Able loyalists like Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania were 
silenced or exiled, and stanch patriots like Benjamin Frank- 
Hn, John Adams, George Clinton, Thomas Jefferson, and George 
Washington came to the front. At first these men hoped and 
worked for a settlement with the home country, which would 
have left the colonies about the same kind of government that 
is now enjoyed by Canada and Australia. Such concessions 
could not be secured in the face of the obstinacy of King George 
III and the lack of insight of the British nation. In vain 
did great Englishmen such as Lord Chatham (William Pitt) 
and Edmund Burke protest against this war between brethren. 
When fighting had fairly begun and the patriots won their 
first great triumph in the capture of Boston, the demand for 
independence grew rapidly. 

One of the great champions of independence was Patrick 
Henry of Virginia, a passionate, impulsive, fiery man, with 
a reputation for surpassing oratory. It is a well-founded 
tradition that in the Virginia Assembly in 1765 he exclaimed, 



.i 



Declaration of Independence 153 

"Caesar had his Brutus; Charles I his Cromwell; and George 
III — •" "Treason," shouted the Speaker. "Treason, treason," 
rose from all sides of the room, — "and George III may profit 
by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it." 
As a member of the First Continental Congress, Patrick Henry 
foresaw independence. "Government is dissolved," said he. 
"Fleets and armies and the present state of things show that 
government is dissolved. ... I am not a Virginian, but an 
American"; and in the Virginia convention of 1775 he made 
a magnificent speech ending with the oft-quoted passage, "I 
know not what course others may take ; but as for me, give 
me liberty or give me death." 

In the North the greatest exponent of independence was the 
astute political leader Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, the 
first man to discover how much may be done in a democracy 
by organizing the voters and by preparing work for town meet- 
ings and assemblies through caucuses and private meetings. 
He induced Boston to take strong ground in the quarrel with 
England. He invented the Committee of Correspondence in 
1772 (§ 85), and was himself the most active member. Be 
pulled the wires which led to the Boston Tea Party ; and in 
Congress he labored unceasingly for independence. Though 
he could destroy, he did not know how to build up a state, 
and after 1776 he lived for the most part in private, except 
for a brief period as governor of Massachusetts. 

98. Declaration of Independence (1775-1776) 

The belief that the British North American colonies wouid 
sometime form a separate nation can be traced back to travelers 
and observers during the ten years previous to the Revolution. 
During 1775 several local conventions suggested that the Brit- 
ish rule was at an end. The most famous among them is that 
of Mecklenburg County, North CaroHna (May, 1775). Con- 
gress still hoped for a settlement till news came (Noveuioer, 
1775) that the king would not even receive their petition. 



154 Building of a New Nation 

In January, 1776, appeared the first widely read and effec- 
tive argument for independence — Thomas Paine's ringing 
pamphlet, Common Sense, an arsenal of arguments against 
England and against reconciliation. "The birthday of a new 
world is at hand," exclaimed Paine; "and a race of men . . . 
are to receive their portion of freedom." 
The conviction that the time was ap- 
proaching for a formal declaration of 
independence took root in Congress. 
May 15, on motion of John Adams, 
Congress voted that all British authority 
in the colonies ought to be legally 
suppressed. June 
7, Richard Henry 
Lee, under in- 
structions from his 
colony of Virginia, 
introduced a res- 
olution for inde- 
pendence, looking 
to a formal union ; 
and two commit- 
tees were appoint- 
ed (June 10-12), 
one to draft a 
declaration of in- 
dependence, the 
other to prepare articles for a union. The question of inde- 
pendence was postponed, to enable delegates to receive 
instructions from home, for, as Franklin dryly remarked, "We 
must all hang together or we shall all hang separately." 

The Committee on Independence intrusted to Thomas 
Jefferson, a young delegate from Virginia, the delicate task of 
drawing up a public statement of the reasons for war and 
separation. Fortunately he had a ready pen, and his mind was 




Independence Hall, Philadelphia. (Where 
the Second Continental Congress met.) 



Meaning of Independence 155 

full of principles of free government, which were not peculiar 
to the colonies, but were the common property of the English 
race, and had been partly put in form by the English phi- 
losophers Locke and Hobbes. 

The declaration he prepared was reported on June 28, and 
was for some days debated and then slightly amended. Mean- 
while Lee's postponed resolution of independence was formally 
adopted, July 2. John Adams has left us his impressions of 
this momentous act. "The second day of July, 1776, will be 
the most memorable epocha in the history of America. . . . 
It ought to be commemorated, as a day of deliverance, by 
solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be 
solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, 
guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this 
continent to the other, from this time forward forever more." 
On July 4, 1776, Jefferson's Declaration of Independence was 
adopted as amended. On August 2, an engrossed copy (still 
preserved in Washington) was laid before Congress; and the 
members then in Congress affixed their names to this docu- 
ment, although in the eye of English law every signer was 
a traitor and subject to a traitor's doom. 

99. Meaning of Independence (1776) 

The document thus formally adopted by Congress in behalf 
of the communities which from that time on were called " states," 
is a cornerstone of American liberty and American govern- 
ment, yet it is simple in its language and its principles. The 
Declaration of Independence (see Appendix D) is made up of 
three significant parts : 

(i) An announcement of certain political rights, by nature 
applying to the colonists and rightfully applying to all man- 
kind. These rights, which had been stated in much greater de- 
tail earlier by the First Continental Congress and by the states, 
are here repeated in the form of certain "self-evident truths," 
such as " that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed 



156 Building of a New Nation 

by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among 
these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That 
to secure these rights. Governments are instituted among Men, 
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." 

(2) A Hst of twenty-seven grievances which justify the 
Revolution ; most of the acts thus complained of had for many 
years been accepted and practiced as legal by the British 
government. 

(3) The ringing, positive, and fearless statement that "These 
United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Inde- 
pendent States." 

The fortunes of war during the next few years were to de- 
cide whether this last statement was true. Meanwhile the 
American people had to settle the further question whether the 
individual colonies were "Free and Independent States"; 
or whether it was the Union of thirteen states taken together 
that was "Free and Independent." "The Union is older 
than any of the States," said Abraham Lincoln in 1861, "and 
in fact it created them as States." He meant to bring out the 
fact that there was a national government in action before any 
state governments came into being. 

100. New States (1775-1780) 

The process of change from colonies into states was difi&cult 
and irregular. As the Revolution spread from Massachusetts to 
other colonies, the royal and proprietary governors were forced 
to flee. The patriots formed revolutionary assemblies, called 
"Congresses" or "Conventions," which for the time being 
carried on the government of the colonies, shutting out the 
Tories from any part in their control. People felt that these 
were only temporary governments, and asked Congress for 
advice. Acting under such advice. New Hampshire in 1776 
adopted a document which was practically a little state consti- 
tution. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut made 
slight changes in their colonial charters and treated them as 



New States 157 

constitutions. The other nine colonies (and also Vermont) 
all adopted written constitutions during 1776 and 1777; and 
Massachusetts at last (1780) gave up the old charter form and 
provided herself with a document which was the first state 
constitution ever adopted by popular vote. 

These constitutions are the foundation of our present system 
of state constitutions; and, with many variations in detail, 
they are surprisingly alike in their general form and spirit. 




First Capitol of New York State, at Kingston. 

(i) Each contained a bill of rights ; that is, a statement 
of the liberties of the individual. (2) Each provided for a rep- 
resentative republican government including three depart- 
ments — legislative, executive, and judicial. In all the states 
except two the legislature was made up of two houses ; in all, 
the legislaturr was the most powerful part of the system ; each 
of the states except Pennsylvania had a single governor, chosen 
by popular vote or by the legislature. (3) None of the consti- 
tutions were strongly democratic according to our ideas, for 
the suffrage was limited to property owners or taxpayers ; and 
most of the states had also religious and property qualifications 



158 Building of a New Nation 

for office holders. (4) In the fear of mihtary and centralized 
government, all the constitutions fixed short terms for all elec- 
tive ofificers. (5) Several of them provided a method of easy 
amendment, and within ten years some of the first constitution? 
were entirely recast. (6) All of these constitutions were made 
by communities who were also taking part in the general govern- 
ment through Congress; and they expected to remain indefi- 
nitely in an organized federal union. 

loi. Articles of Confederation (17 7 5-1 781) 

The reasons for union were many, the two strongest being 
that the colonies were already in a union as parts of the British 
Empire when the Revolution began, and that unless they made 
their union closer they could never secure their independence. 
As early as 1775, Benjamin Franklin proposed to Congress a 
plan somewhat resembling his old suggestion to the Albany Con- 
gress of 1754 (§ 68). There is evidence to show that he had be- 
fore him the Articles of the New England Confederation of 
1643 (§ 37). He wanted a strong government in which the 
states should be represented in proportion to their population ; 
and he wanted Congress to have control of boundary dis- 
^-/utes and future colonies. The committee on a union (§ 98) 
reported (July 12, 1776) a draft for a Confederation, drawn 
up by John Dickinson, a Pennsylvanian. So many disagree- 
ments arose in the debate that it was not till November 15, 
1777, that Congress completed its revision of the Articles of Con- 
federation and sent out the result to the states for ratification. 

The state delegations disagreed on many points, but espe- 
cially on the following : Was the Union to be strong or weak ? 
Should slave property be taxed? Should Congress regulate 
foreign commerce ? Should Congress control the western coun- 
try? On these and other points the Articles as finally sub- 
mitted were much weaker than Franklin's original proposition 
(i) Congress was not authorized to tax slaves or to regulate 
foreign commerce ; nor was it given any direct authority to 



The Western Country 159 

settle boundary disputes or to plant new colonies. (2) Each 
state in the Confederation, however small, was to have an 
equal vote in Congress. (3) Revenues for the support of the gov- 
ernment were to be supplied by the states according to the value 
of their lands — a method which proved to be impracticable. 

Even for this weakened plan of Union, ratifications came in 
slowly. During the first year only ten of the thirteen state 
legislatures ratified; New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland 
stood out because they thought there ought to be some pro- 
vision to prevent Virginia from securing the northwestern lands. 
Not till March i, 1781, did Maryland, the last state, ratify and 
thus complete the adoption of the Articles of Confederation. 

102. The Western Country (1763-17 76) 

Let us turn to the West, which was hereafter to play an im- 
portant part in the history and government of the United 
States. Though by the Peace of Paris in 1763 (§ 69) the 
British came into control of the region between the Ohio River, 
the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi, they had to fight an 
Indian war for its possession, against the famous chief Pontiac 
(i 763-1 764). The few little towns 'there, such as Detroit, 
Green Bay, St. Joseph near the head of Lake Michigan, 
Vincennes on the Wabash, and Kaskaskia and Cahokia on 
the east side of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the Illinois, 
were inhabited by Frenchmen and French half-breeds. A 
little British government for the region was set up at Detroit, 
with some slight authority in Vincennes and Kaskaskia. 

Both Pennsylvania and Virginia claimed the forks of the 
Ohio, where in 1765 the town of Pittsburgh was founded. 
People poured across the mountains, and part of them drifted 
southwest into the mountain regions of Virginia and North 
Carolina. Then frontiersmen, chiefly Scotch-Irish and Ger- 
man, with a few Huguenots, ignored the Proclamation of 1763 
(§ 69), defied their own colonial governments, braved the In- 
dians, and plunged into the western wilderness. 

hart's new AMER. hist. II 



i6o 



Building of a New Nation 



The pioneer in this movement was Daniel Boone of the 
Yadkin district in North Carohna, who in 1769, with five com- 
panions, started out "in quest of the country of Kentucke." 
For years he was the leading spirit in a scattered community of 
men who were frontiersmen, farmers, trappers, and Indian 
fighters all at the same time — the first settlers in Kentucky. 
A second and more continuous settlement was begun in 1769 




SCALE OF MILES 

C 2'6 6'0 ib ino 

-—-—Boone's ^ViMerne99 



\w.asliville) /^'^■i- ' 

NGTON COU p1^ X^ ^lam 

o .i1>i'nTav- ■ V s 1. f J_ 



Early Settlements in the West, and Clark's Expedition. 

by William Beane, on the Watauga River, a head stream of the 
Tennessee, a region which he and his neighbors supposed to be 
a part of Virginia, though it proved to be within the North 
Carolina claims. Under the leadership of John Sevier and 
James Robertson, they formed a little representative constitu- 
tion under the name of "Articles of the Watauga Association." 
By this time the value of the West was apparent to some 
capitalists, who formed the Vandalia Company, a kind of suc- 
cessor to the old Ohio Company (§ 67), and asked for a royal 



Indian Troubles i6i 

charter for a colony south of the Ohio. In 1774, however, 
Parliament showed the purpose of the British government to 
prevent the growth of any new western commonwealth, by the 
Quebec Act, which added the region between the Ohio and 
the Great Lakes to the province of Ouebec. 

Just at the time the Revolution broke out, Richard Hender- 
son of Virginia, with Daniel Boone as his right-hand man, set 
up what they called the Transylvania Company, in the region 
between the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers. Boone was 
sent ahead and blazed out a pack trail known as the Wilderness 
Road, from the Holston River (upper Tennessee) through Cum- 
berland Gap to Kentucky. The new settlers founded Boones- 
boro and other settlements, and actually set up a government 
by a delegate convention. Later they applied to Congress to 
admit them as a state. The people of the Vandalia region in 
1776 also petitioned Congress to make them "a sister colony 
and fourteenth province of the American confederacy." Both 
applications were distasteful to Virginia, which in 1776 organized 
Kentucky County, with a county seat at Harrodsburg, and put 
an end to the Transylvania government. 

All these settlements were south of the Ohio River; all of 
them were in territory claimed by either Virginia or North Caro- 
lina ; all of them showed a disposition to set up for themselves ; 
all of them raised the question of the future control and govern- 
ment of the West. 

103. Indian Troubles (1776-1779) 

Although the new western settlers made some effort to pur- 
chase the Indian rights to the lands which they occupied, the 
tribes were quick to see that they and the "long-knives" could 
not live at peace. By this time, white traders and explorers 
were coming into close contact with the Cherokees, who 
occupied what is now western Tennessee and northern Georgia, 
and Alabama. They were the Iroquois of the South, the bold- 
est, best-organized, and most intelligent Indians of their region. 



1 62 Building of a New Nation 

Along the whole frontier from south to north, the Indians 
were greatly disturbed by the Revolutionary War. Both 
sides tried to win them as allies. Congress made every effort 
to placate them by the same kind of fatherly control as the 
British government had previously used. Congress received 
delegations of Indians in its sessions and harangued them, 
appropriated money to buy presents for them, appointed 
superintendents of Indian affairs, negotiated treaties with sev- 
eral tribes, and made some feeble attempts to civilize them. 

Nothing could prevent war. The southwestern Indians 
attacked the neighboring settlements in 1776 and harried the 
frontier till the South Carolina legislature offered 75 pounds 
for every Indian scalp. The middle frontier, especially of 
Virginia, was harassed by a mixed force of British, Indians, 
and renegade whites directed by the British governor of the 
Northwest Country. The worst horrors of Indian warfare were 
felt in the backwoods of Pennsylvania and New York ; for 
though the Iroquois Six Nations were divided, a large part of 
them took the British side. Joint forces of Tories and Indians 
in 1778 ravaged the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, and Cherry 
Valley, New York. The next year Congress as a punishment 
dispatched an expedition under General Sullivan, who marched 
up into the territory of the Six Nations, defeated the Indians 
and their white allies, and laid waste their villages. The 
Iroquois were so reduced in numbers and prestige by this defeat 
that they never again became a force in American affairs. 

104. Conquest of the Northwest (i 778-1 779) 

The defeat of the Iroquois Indians opened the way for an 
invasion of the region north of the Ohio River, in which there 
were few British, and only about 6000 French and French half- 
breeds. Among the settlers in Kentucky associated with Boone 
was George Rogers Clark, an excellent backwoodsman and 
experienced Indian fighter. He was but twenty-five years 
old, and had neither money nor men; and no story of the 



Rival Claims to the West 163 

Arabian Nights is more romantic or improbable than his con- 
ception of such an invasion and his success in carrying it 
out. Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia authorized him to 
attack the British post at Kaskaskia, not far from St. Louis. 
With about 100 men, Clark floated down the Ohio River, 
marched across the country, and surprised and took Kaskaskia 
and Cahokia (July, 1778). The British commander of the 
Northwest Country, Hamilton, began to raise a force at Vin- 
cennes on the Wabash ; but Clark enhsted the French residents, 
whom he won over by giving them religious and civil Hberty. 
These forces he led in an incredible march over flooded country, 
and Vincennes surrendered without a fight, in February, 1779. 
The Americans remained to the end of the war in possession 
of the southern half of the region north of the Ohio River, which 
had been added to the province of Quebec in 1774 (§ 102). 
Clark was anxious to capture Detroit, but never could muster 
a sufficient force. Inasmuch as he was commissioned by Vir- 
ginia, the government of that state -erected the whole immense 
region between the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Great Lakes 
into the "County of IlHnois" (1778). This claim led Mary- 
land to oppose the Articles of Confederation (§ loi). 

105. Rival Claims to the West (1778-1781) 

By this time it was clear that the various claims to the title 
of the West were in confusion, and that the thirteen states were 
at loggerheads with one another, in curiously involved groups : 

(i) Six of the thirteen states were so definitely bounded that 
they could not, by any construction of their charters, claim any 
part of the West ; these were New Hampshire, Rhode Island, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland. 

(2) Four states claimed the Southwest, in four parallel bands 
extending as far as the Pacific Ocean ; or rather, since the Brit- 
ish recognized the Spanish possession of the far West, as far as 
the Mississippi. These were Virginia, by the extinct charter 
of 1609 (§ 30) ; the two Carolinas, on extinct grants of 



Rival Claims to the West 165 

1663 and 1665 (§ 44) ; and Georgia by the extinct charter 
of 1732 (§ 46). 

(3) Virginia also claimed practically the whole of the North- 
west, under the uncertain terms of the charter of 1609, "Up into 
the land throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest." 

(4) Three other states also claimed parts of the Northwest, 
(o) Massachusetts went back to the canceled charter of 1629 
(§ 33)} which was partly revived by the charter of 1691 (§ 46) ; 
and (b) Connecticut referred to the charter of 1662 (§ 41), which 
was in force down to the Revolution. They claimed parallel 
strips of territory as far as the Mississippi, covering part of the 
territory in the Virginia claim, (c) New York had no charter, 
and no settlements west of the Mohawk valley, but set up an in- 
definite claim to the upper Ohio country on the ground that it 
belonged to Indians who were subject to the Six Nations, who 
had ceded it to New York. Her claim conflicted with those of 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia. I 

Manifestly these claims could not all be made good ; and 
clearly it was contrary to the interests of all the other states of 
the Union that Virginia should be allowed to extend from tide 
water to Lake Superior and to possess a third of the territory 
of the Union. The only way out was to recognize the common- 
sense principle that the whole nation had rights in the western 
lands. The West was conquered and held only because the 
British were kept busy on the coast by the continental army. 
Hence Maryland stood out for holding the western lands. 

As a pledge that the lands should be used for all the states. 
Congress passed a momentous vote (October 10, 1780) that 
"The unappropriated lands which may be ceded to . . . the 
United States shall be disposed of for the common benefit of the 
United States, and be settled and formed into distinct republican 
states, which shall become members of the federal union." 
New York and Virginia promised to cede at least a part of their 
claims, and without waiting for the details to be settled, Mary- 
land ratified the Articles of Confederation. 



1 66 Building of a New Nation 

io6. Review 

More important than the military events of the Revolution 
is the building up of the new nation, in which the western settle- 
ments took a part. The organized patriots were led by such 
men as Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams. 

Early in the war independence was urged by such writers as 
Thomas Paine, and such statesmen as Richard Henry Lee of 
Virginia. In June, 1776, a Declaration of Independence was 
drawn by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia ; and it was adopted by 
Congress, July 4, 1776. This Declaration set forth the funda- 
mental rights of man, and the recent violations of those rights. 

To carry out this Declaration, new state and national govern- 
ments were needed. All the thirteen states, and also Vermont, 
adopted constitutions. Congress also drew up Articles of Con- 
federation, as a federal constitution for the Union (November, 
1777) ; they were not adopted by all the states till 1781. 

A new element in American history was the West, where in the 
Illinois country and in Kentucky and Tennessee flourishing little 
settlements were made by Daniel Boone and other noted pioneers. 
A large part of the Six Nations took the British side in the 
Revolution, and were therefore invaded and almost annihilated. 

Virginia entered into the conquest of the West by sending out 
George Rogers Clark in 1778, who captured several British posts 
in what is now southern Illinois and Indiana. This revived the 
confused claims to the western country, parts of which were 
claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Congress urged 
the states to surrender their claims, and the process was begun 
by cessions from New York and Virginia in 1781. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See references in ch. viii. 

Secondary. Becker, Beginnings, 247-254, 262-267, 270-274. — 
Channing, U.S., III. chs. vii, xiv. — Hart, Formation of the Union, 
§§ 36-39, 43-45- — Hazelton, Declaration of Independence. — Morse, 



References and Topics 167 

Benjamin Franklin, chs. viii, xii ; John Adams, chs. iv-vi; Thomas 
Jefferson; chs. iii-vi. — Roosevelt, Winning of the West, I, II. — 
Schouler, Americans of 1776. — ^Thwaites, Daniel Boone. — Tyler, Am. 
Revolution (literary), I. chs. .xix-xxiii, II ; Patrick Henry, chs. xii-xv. — 
Van Tyne, Am. Rev., chs. iv-vi, ix-xi, xiv, xv ; Loyalists. 

Sources. Am. Hist. Leaflets, nos. 11, 20. — Beard, Readings, §§ 10- 
13. — Caldwell, Terr. Devcloptnent, 26-48. — Hart, Contemporaries, II. 
§§ 134-137, 159-169, 184-190, 205-210; Patriots and Statesmen, II. 
^5-SO) 59-61, 68-74, 78-96, 123-139, 142-149, 153-166, 193-197, 216- 
223. — -Hill, Liberty Docs., chs. xiii-xv. — James, Readings, §§ 32-35. 

— Johnson, Readings, §§ 13-17, 22-25. • — MacDonald, Select Docs., nos. 
I, 2. — Old South Leaflets, 2, 3, 43, 97, 152. 

Illustrative. Campbell, Gertrude of Wyoming. — Eggleston, Ain. 
War Ballads, I. 23-101. — Ford, Janice Meredith. — Freneau, Poems. — 
Kennedy, Horseshoe Robinson (loyalists). — Matthews, Poems of Am. 
Patriotism, 8-82. — Mitchell, Hugh Wynne. — Thompson, Alice of Old 
Vincenncs. — Trumbull, M'Fingal. — See also refs. to ch. viii. 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., VI. — Mentor, serial no. 32. — Wilson, Am. 
People, II. — ■ Winsor, America, VI. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Early settlers in Kentucky, or in Tennessee. [§ 96] — (2) Treat- 
ment of the loyalists. [§ 96] — (3) Contemporary accounts of the Declara- 
tion of Independence. [§ 98] — (4) Franklin's plan of a federal constitution. 
[§ loi] — (5) Pontiac's war with the English. [§ 102] — (6) French 
colonial towns in the West. [§ 102] — (7) Adventures of Daniel Boone, 
or of John Sevier. [§ 102] — (8) Life of the early western settlers. [§ 103] 

— (9) Indian and British frontier raids. [§ 103] — (10) Sullivan's raid. 
[§ 103] — (11) George R.ogers Clark's campaign. [§ 104] 

Topic? for Further Search 

(12) Influence on the Revolution of one of the following men : Patrick 
Henry; Thomas Paine; John Dickinson; John Adams; Samuel 
Adams; Robert Morris; Richard Henry Lee; Franklin; Jeff'erson. 
[§§97j 9S] — (^3) Influence of the Declaration of Independence on the 
world. [§ 99] — (14) Account of the Revolutionary Congress or Conven- 
tion in one of the thirte^^n original states. [§ 100] — (15) Maryland's 
objections to the Artidps of Confederation. [§ loi] — (16) Account of 
the Cherolcee Indians. [§ 103] — (17) Did the eastern states have good 
claims to western terntory? [§ 105] 



CHAPTER X 

CONFEDERATION AND FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 

(1781-1788) 

107. Congress and the Confederation 

For many months before the Articles of Confederation were 
finally adopted, Congress had been acting on the supposition 
that they would be ratified, and people hardly realized that this 
constitution went into effect on March i, 1781. The govern- 
ment thus established suffered from so many troubles that it 
has been looked upon as a failure. In fact it was the best 
organized and most thoroughgoing confederation that the 
world had ever seen, though far inferior in efficiency to its suc- 
cessor. Although Congress was the only recognized federal 
authority under the Articles, it chose to act through three 
departments as follows : 

(i) Congress itself was made up of delegates appointed by 
the state legislatures, each state delegation casting one vote. 
On several vital questions, no motion could be carried except by 
the afl&rmative vote of nine states. 

(2) Congress created executive offices and commissioned 
ofiicials, particularly the Secretary at War, the Superintendent 
of Finance, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and the Post- 
master-General. 

(3) Congress set up a Court of Appeals in Prize Cases, to 
which cases concerning captured vessels could be carried from 
the state courts. 

Congress had no fixed place of meeting, but held sessions at 

168 



Treaty of Peace 169 

Philadelphia, Trenton, Annapolis, and other places. From 
1785 it sat at New York. Membership was not much prized, 
and it was hard to get first-class men to enter Congress; but 
Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and 
James Monroe, later Presidents of the 
United States, all showed their great 
abilities as members of Congress. 



108. Treaty of Peace (1782-1783) 

One of the most important duties of 
Congress was to secure a peace with 
Great Britain. When Lord North, the 
Prime Minister, heard of the Yorktown 
surrender (§ 94) he cried out, "O God, 
it is all over ! " The merchants in 
England had suffered enormous losses 
by captures of their shipping, and 
therefore strongly urged a peace ; and 
King George III was obliged to accept 
an opposition ministry, which was de- 
termined to end the war. 

A strong commission — Franklin, 
John Adams, John Jay, and Henry 
Laurens — was selected to represent 
this country in peace negotiations at 
Paris in 1782. Though their instructions 
provided that these envoys should take 
no steps without the approval of the 
French government, they became satis- 
fied that the French did not desire to 
give a good boundary west of the 
Appalachians. In consultation in their rooms one day, 
Franklin said to Jay, "Would you break your instructions?" 
"Yes, as I break this pipe." The pipe went into the fire, 
and the instructions were ignored ; an unexpectedly favorable 




1918. 

Growth of the Flag. 



lyo Confederation and Federal Constitution 

treaty with Great Britain was secured without the aid of 

France, under date of November 30, 1782. 
The main features of this treaty were as follows : 
(i) Great Britain recognized the independence of the 

United States. 

(2) The boundary was to run from the river St. Croix north- 
ward to the watershed of the St. Lawrence ; thence along 
that ridge and on the 45th parallel to the St. Lawrence River ; 
thence up that river and the Great Lakes to the Lake of the 
Woods ; thence down the Mississippi to the 31st parallel; thence 
eastward to the head of St. Marys River, and by that river to 
the Atlantic Ocean. 

(3) "The right to take fish of every kind" from the grand 
banks of Newfoundland was acknowledged, together with the 
"liberty" to dry and cure fish on the neighboring unsettled bays 
and creeks of Canada. 

(4) British merchants were to have the right to collect debts 
due when the Revolution broke out, and on the other hand 
the British agreed to withdraw their armies from the United 
States without taking away "negroes or other property of the 
Americans." 

(5) Congress was to recommend the states to receive and treat 
well the loyalists who had not taken arms in the British service. 

This so-called Preliminary Treaty of 1782 practically ended 
the Revolutionary War. A year later a "Definitive Treaty" 
to the same effect was signed and in due time was ratified by 
Congress. New York was evacuated by the British in 1783. 
The United States of America had at last fully proved that 
the Declaration of Independence was real. 

109. National Finances (i 776-1 788) 

Upon Congress fell the serious responsibility of providing for 
the finances of the Revolutionary War and for the debt left at 
the end of the war. During the Revolution every device was 
used to raise money. The states laid taxes which were collected 



National Finances 



171 



with difficulty; they issued $210,000,000 of paper money, most 
of which was never redeemed ; they fixed prices in paper money 
and punished those who refused to receive it ; they confiscated 
the estates of the loyaHsts; they borrowed money, and 
could not pay the interest. National finances were not much 
better, as was shown by the accumulation of several kinds of 
debt: (i) domestic, including bonds and certificates to cred- 
itors, amounting to 
about $ 1 1 ,000,000 ; 
(2) foreign, due to 
France and French 
officers, amount- 
ing to about 
$6,000,000; (3) un- 
settled and un- 
funded debts — 
perhaps $16,000,- 
000 ; (4) paper 
money: from 1775 
to 1 781, Congress 
issued $242,000,000 in paper money, which rapidly declined in 
purchasing power. Toward the end of the war a specie dollar 
would buy a thousand dollars in continental currency, and 

" Paper money became so cheap, 
Folks wouldn't count it, but said ' a heap.' " 

The paper money, both state and national, was really a kind of 
taxation. Congress got about forty million dollars' worth of 
supplies and of soldiers' services for the paper notes which were 
never redeemed ; and therefore the system caused that amount 
of loss to the people through whose hands the notes passed, 
or in whose possession they were finally left. The Confed- 
eration did not attempt to float paper money, but about half 
the states put out new issues after the war was over. 

In the seven years from 1781 to 1788 the states turned in 




Continental Paper Money. 



172 Confederation and Federal Constitution 

about $500,000 a year in specie to the national government, 
which was the only cash income of the United States except some 
money lent by France and by Dutch bankers. Robert Morris 
of Philadelphia, who was then considered the richest man in 
America, was put in charge of the finances, but resigned in 1784. 
At that time the outstanding federal debt was about $40,000,000, 
and the interest upon it was rolling up from year to year. 

no. National Commerce (17S1-1788) 

After the Revolution, European countries were anxious to 
make treaties with the United States, so as to get a part of our 
trade ; and several such commercial treaties were negotiated. 
Spain stood off because the United States asked for the right to 
navigate the Mississippi River to its mouth, without paying 
duties to the Spanish colony of Louisiana, through which the 
river flowed for the last hundred miles of its course. This 
concession Spain absolutely refused, and Congress was inclined 
to accept the Spanish terms ; but some of the southwestern 
people roundly threatened to leave the Union if cut off from 
the sea. Washington wrote : " The western states (I speak now 
from my own observation) stand as it were upon a pivot. The 
touch of a feather would turn them any way." The whole 
matter was postponed for the time. 

Now that the United States was completely separated from 
Great Britain and no longer subject to the Navigation Acts, 
our government was unexpectedly made to understand that it 
had lost the special privileges of trade with the British colonies. 
The navigation system (§ 80) was applied against the United 
States when (July, 1783) the British government closed the 
West India trade to all vessels except those built and owned by 
British subjects. Still, direct trade between Great Britain and 
the United States went on freely in the vessels of both nations ; 
and the British merchants got most of the American orders for 
foreign goods ; hence Great Britain saw no reason for making 
a commercial treaty. 



States and the Union 173 

In other respects the treaty of 1 782-1 783 did not end the con- 
troversies between the two countries. The British merchants 
complained that the state governments prevented them from 
collecting the old debts; and the British government was in- 
censed because the loyalists were not allowed to return and 
resume their place in the states. On the other side, the Ameri- 
cans complained that the retiring British troops carried off negro 
slaves, and the British kept possession of about twelve little 
posts inside the northern American boundary. 

Our trade and foreign relations were in an unsatisfactory 
state during the whole life of the Confederation. 

III. States and the Union (1781-1788) 

Within the Union also there were serious quarrels : first of 
all, about the western lands, and then about commerce. One 
reason why Great Britain refused to make a commercial treaty 
was that certain states undertook to regulate commerce without 
any treaty. Some laid discriminating duties on British ships; 
others took off discriminations, so as to induce British ships to 
come to their ports. Three states — Massachusetts, New York, 
and Pennsylvania — • adopted protective tariff duties which were 
applied against their neighbors ; and New Jersey retaliated 
with an act taxing the New York lighthouse on Sandy Hook. 
Among the state acts that most affected neighboring states 
were the "Stay and Tender" laws, suspending all suits for debt 
for six months or a year, or permitting the debtor to offer goods, 
cattle, or even land in payment of his debts. 

So far as we can now judge, the country was prosperous during 
this period, though the governments were in financial trouble. 
Population was increasing, towns were growing, houses and 
ships were being built, and quantities of goods were imported. 
The main trouble was the difficulty of paying for these goods ; 
for the exports were less than before the Revolution, and there 
was very little hard money — gold and silver — in the country. 
Everybody found it difficult to pay debts and taxes ; and under 



174 Confederation and Federal Constitution 

the laws of the time a man might be kept indefinitely in jail 
for no other cause than inability to pay his debts. From one 
end of the country to the other, there was a chorus of complaint 
— much of it justified — • that court fees and lawsuits and im- 
prisonment for debt were intolerable hardships. 

In several states riots broke out and rose almost to revolu- 
tions. The climax was reached in the Shays Rebellion in Mas- 
sachusetts, which made a great impression on the country. 
Early in 1787 Captain Daniel Shays got together about 1800 
men, and even attacked the United States arsenal at Springfield. 
State militia was sent to break up the insurrection ; when the 
two forces actually met each other at Petersham, the rebels 
gave way in confusion, and order was shortly restored. This 
rebellion was important as showing the weakness of the federal 
government, which had no power to maintain order. 

112. Division on the Slavery Question 

Down to the Revolution, when slavery and the slave trade 
were legal in every colony, there was not much chance for 
differences between the sections on that question. The few 
antislavery advocates, such as John Woolman, a Quaker lay 
preacher, worked in both northern and southern colonies. There 
was no antislavery society until 1775, when one was formed in 
Philadelphia. Up to this time the main argument against 
slavery had been that slavery was unchristian. Now came the 
doctrines of the Declaration of Independence and the Bills of 
Rights, in favor of the equality of all men. Then followed the 
first legal step against slavery, which was the prohibition of the 
slave trade by votes of the Continental Congress and by statutes 
of most of the individual states. 

In the debates on the Articles of Confederation, however, 
northern members began to criticize the South for slavery ; and 
between 1777 and 1784, five states and one semi-independent 
community laid the ban of law on slavery, (i) Vermont in 
its constitution of 1777 prohibited the slavery of grown men and 



Western Land Question settled 175 

women. (2) Pennsylvania in 1780 passed an act providing 
that all persons born within the commonwealth after the date 
of the act should be born free. (3) The Massachusetts consti- 
tution of 17S0 declared that "All men are born free and equal," 
which the courts afterward held to be a prohibition of slavery. 
(4) A similar clause in the revised constitution of New Hamp- 
shire in 1 783 had the same effect in that state. (5) In Connecticut 
and (6) Rhode Island, emancipation acts, similar to that of Penn- 
sylvania, were passed in 1784. The gap between New England 
and Pennsylvania was closed by emancipation acts of New 
York (1799) and New Jersey (1804). Thus was created a solid 
block of territory, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake 
Erie, north of Mason and Dixon's Line (the southern boundary 
of Pennsylvania), in which slavery was dead or dying (map, 
page 179). The result ^7as that the Union was divided into 
two sections, with hostile labor systems. Such men as Wash- 
ington and Jefferson, however, believed that slavery would 
soon disappear in the South as well as in the North. 

113. Western Land Question settled (i 781-1790) 

If Congress showed little capacity to deal with the pressing 
financial and commercial questions, it nevertheless settled 
another issue, upon which it had no authority under the Articles. 
This was the western land controversy, involving the three 
questions of state claims, administration of the public lands^ and 
organization of new western communities. This adjustment is 
shown in many parts of the present map of the West and in the 
public land system, and should therefore be carefully stated. 

The four states claiming the lands north of the Ohio River 
(§ 105) all gracefully yielded : (i) New York ceded all claims 
west of the present western boundary of that state (17S1). 
(2) Virginia gave up all claims to territory north of the Ohio 
River, except ownership of the Virginia Reserve Military 
Bounty Lands (1784). (3) Massachusetts yielded all claims 
west of New York (1785), and gave up to that state her 




Ft. Del 
FtJtesoveryf— -*■— ( ^\ .ills' Wd^IinjI 

:? 7 ^-co^ 

nllil..i.lj6' 



176 Confederation and Federal Constitution 

claim to govern western New York, retaining ownership in 
the lands. (4) Connecticut yielded her claims (1786), with 
the exception of the "Western Reserve" — a strip along Lake 
Erie west of Pennsylvania. 

The claims south of the Ohio River (§ 105) were harder to 
adjust, (i) To Virginia, by an agreement of 1784, was left 

the District of Kentucky, 
which remained a part of 
Virginia until later admitted 
as a state. (2) South Caro- 
lina gave up her claim to a 
narrow strip lying between 
western North Carolina and 
Georgia (1787). (3) North 
Carolina claimed Tennessee, 
including the Watauga and 
other settlements, and issued 
land grants covering most of 
the tract, but eventually 
ceded to Congress the right 
to govern the region (1790). (4) Georgia claimed everything 
between the present state and the Mississippi River, and did 
not consent to accept her present state boundaries till 1802. 

114. Public Lands and Western Settlements (i 780-1 785) 

■ Before any part of the disputed lands came under the exclu- 
sive control of Congress, that body made preparations to sell 
them and to apply the proceeds to paying off the national debt. 
The first Public Land Act in our national history was the Gray- 
son Ordinance (1785). In this act is included the system of 
surveying the land into square blocks, a plan based on a sugges- 
tion from Thomas Jefferson. Provision was made for dividing 
the western country into townships six miles square by lines 
running east and west, crossed at regular intervals by lines 
running north and south. Each township was to be subdivided 




The Northwest in 1800. 















^ 


J 


- 




























3 




Enlarged 
ketch of Township. 
















2 


" I 










showiug Sections. | 








VI 


^ 




IV 


III 


U 


1 

I 


L:. J 


N 






Prir 


cipal Base I 


Jue 


1 


_c. 


6 


6 


4 


3 


2 


1 


r 






7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 














2 


18 


17 


10 


15 


14 


13 






19 


20 


21 


22 


23 


24 














3 




30 


29 


23 


27 


20 


25 




31 


32 


33 


34 


35 


36 
















3 





Public Lands and Western Settlements 177 

by lines a mile apart into thirty-six sections, one of which was 
reserved for schools. The standard government price was to 
be $1 an acre. 

It was one thing to offer the land and another to dispose of it. 
Some tracts were held by squatters who had to be driven off by 
troops. The states and the private holders of warrants for 
bounty lands 
hadgreatquan- 
tities to sell 
below the gov- 
ernment price. 
Hence several 
shrewd men 
hit on the idea 
of buying land, 
not with cash, 
but with cer- 
tificates of the 
national debt 

which were then at a distressing discount. To float these schemes, 
three companies were formed: (i) The Ohio Company con- 
tracted to buy about 1,500,000 acres and took about 900,000. 
(2) The Symmes Company wanted 1,000,000 acres, and finally 
got 250,000, including the site of Cincinnati. (3) The Scioto 
Company, managed by speculators, undertook to buy 3,500,000 
acres but never took any. In the year 1788 the state of Penn- 
sylvania bought the triangle of land west of the New York line, 
— 200,000 acres, — which gave to the state a lake front, includ- 
ing the site of the city of Erie. 

All these sales were in the Northwest. In Kentucky and 
Tennessee, the frontier was settled by hardy people called 
"backwoodsmen." They were of Scotch-Irish, German, and 
English descent, but when thrown together they speedily 
became one people. They took up farms by land patents, or 
by "tomahawk right" ; that is, by blazing trees where they 
hart's new amer. hist. — 12 



Method of Public Land Survey. 



178 Confederation and Federal Constitution 

meant to settle. In a few days of hard labor they could build 
a log house ; in a few days more, a fort. Their large families 
of children grew up and settled more land about them, or plunged 
into the far backwoods. Their ordinary dress was the fringed 

hunting shirt and 
leggings, and their 
flintlock rifles brought 
down game or Indians, 
according as they shot. 
The Kentuckians in 
1 784 took steps toward 
the immediate estab- 
lishment of a state 
government, but de- 
sisted when Virginia 
intimated that she 
would soon give her 
consent to the sepa- 
ration. In Tennessee 
a convention formally 
voted to establish a 
state of Franklin 
(1784), elected John 
Sevier governor, chose 
a legislature, made laws, and defied the jurisdiction of North 
Carolina. Again a policy of conciliation was followed ; and the 
people returned to their allegiance under the promise that North 
Carolina would transfer the territory to the United States. 

115. The Northwest Ordinance (i 784-1 788) 

Although Congress had no authority under the Articles of 
Confederation to create territories, nevertheless it did so in 
order to provide a proper government for the western settlers. 
Jefferson drafted a general ordinance for temporary territorial 
governments ; this was adopted by Congress but was never put 




A Frontier Post, 1787. (Fort Steuben, 
Ohio. From a recent restoration.) 



The Northwest Ordinance 



179 



into force. Several Revolutionary oflEicers from Massachusetts, 
headed by Rufus Putnam, organized a land company called 
the Ohio Com- 
pany of Asso- 
ciates. In 
1787 Manas- 
seh Cutler, the 
agent of the 
company, ap- 
plied to Con- 
gress, which 
was then sit- 
ting in New 
York, to sell 
them a tract of 
land, and also 
to provide a 
form of gov- 
ernment es- 
pecially for 
their settle- 
ment This Slave and Free Sections, 1804. 

was granted in the famous Northwest Ordinance dated July 31, 
1787, of which the principal points are the following: 

(i) It specifically applied to the Northwest Territory, lying 
between the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Great Lakes. 

(2) A governor and three judges, appointed by Congress, 
were to act as a board to select laws for the territory. 

(3) Provision was made for a later representative assembly, 
with power to elect a non-voting delegate to Congress, and to 
make laws subject to the governor's veto. 

(4) Six "Articles of Compact" provided for personal liberty, 
for religious freedom, for "schools and the means of education," 
and added the momentous provision: "There shall be neither 
Slavery nor involuntary Servitude in the said Territory, other- 




i(So Coiifcdcnilion iind I'l'dcrul Constitution 

wise IIkiii In llic |)iinisluiuiil ol Ciiincs, wlicicol llic I'aiiy sluill 
have; Ixh-ii duly Convicted." 'I'liis cxlcndt'd llu; hell of free 
tcrrilorv from l*('iiiisvlv;iiiiii to llic Mis.sissi|)|)i. 

Coloiiisis sent l)y Mic Ohio Company traveled from Massa- 
c]uis(;lls, wi;st to I'illsburffh ; and on A|)ril 7, 1 7<S(S, founded 
die town of Miirlelta, al llu; junction of llu; Muskingum and 
Ohio rivers. The lirsl lerrilorial [government was established 
under the govtMnorship of Ceneral St. Clair. The Ordinance 
of ly.Sy was thus ])ul into force, and was Ihc basis of free gov- 
crnmenl in a region out of which live new states have since 
been formed. 

. 116. WkAKNI'.SS OI' 1II1-. CoNI'I'.DI'.KAIION (17.S1 17R8) 

Notwithstanding I he good I lungs in the Confederation and 
lis success in dealing with the difricull problems of the western 
lands and lerrilory, it showed many lines of weakness, of which 
I he following were the most important : 

(1) The organization of Congress was |)oor. No action could 
\n- taken unli'ss al least two meml)ers were |)resent from i-ach of 
sevi'U slates; no im|)orlant action was possible without lh(> vote 
of nine slates; and sometimes for weeks together there was no 
<|uorum. 

(.;) The ])owers of the Confederation were not sutricienl. It 
had no control over commerce IxMween the states and there- 
fore could iiol |)revenl them from i)assing acts intended to liurt 
one anollier (^ 111). It could not control commerce with 
foreign (ountries. Above all it (ould not lay any duties or 
direct taxes on individuals, and tlu- rt'(|uisilions on the states 
barely prochiced enough to ])ay necessary salaries. 

(3) NTo means were provided for carrying out the powers 
granted ])y the Confederation. Congress could not compel 
individuals to obey, and could not keej) the states up to their 
duties. 

These diUlculties whm-c cU-a,r to the thinking men in the coun- 
try ; aii<l Congress tried three limes to induce the states to accept 



Weakness of the Coiili'dciiLlion 



i.Si 



conslil ulioiial aiiicii(liiuiils which woiiM ;il h'asi liavc lidcd 
over the trouhlc: (i) By the " Five Per ("cut Sclieme" (17.S1) 
Coiii^ress would have luid the power to hiy ^^ very small duty 
upon ini|)orls, the proceeds to ^o toward |)a\'iii}^ the priiu ip;d 
and uUeresL of the public debt. (2) By the "Revenue I'lan" 
(17S3) Congress would have had the right tolay specifu duties 
on a very low scale. (3) The "Coiiinierce Ainenduieiit " (17^4) 
would have made it possible Lo pass laws discriminating against 
the commerce of countries which refused to make commercial 
Irealies. Each of the tn'sL two of these amendnients received 
twelve ratiiications out of the necessary thirteen. The third 
was ratified by only seven stales. 

No man in this dillicull time was more persistent in urging a. 
strong governnieiit ihuii (leorge Washington, then living in re 




i|iM.\i \ i.\<\')\, AUDI I i'\yj. I 1' loiji .III 1 ii).;i.i V iii)>. Ii_y ill il.ii I J 



tirement at Mount Vernon. In 17S6 he wrote a famous letter 
urging a stronger union. He comi)lained that "Thirteen sov- 
ereignties pulling against each other, and all tugging at the 
federal head, will soon bring ruin on the whole." When asked 



i82 Confederation and Federal Constitution 

to use his influence for reform, he replied: "Influence is no 
government. Let us have one by which our Hves, liberties, 
and properties will be secured, or let us know the worst at 
once." 

117. The Constitutional Convention called (i 786-1 787) 

Since Congress could not rouse the states into action, sev- 
eral public men suggested a special constitutional convention. 
A meeting of delegates from five states at Annapolis (Septem- 
ber, 1786) proposed that a general convention meet in Phila- 
delphia to prepare amendments to the Articles of Confederation. 
Under this unoflicial call some of the states began to elect dele- 
gates, and Congress then reluctantly issued a formal call for a 
convention "for the sole and express purpose of revising the 
Articles of Confederation, and reporting to Congress and the 
several legislatures, such alterations and provisions therein, as 
shall, when agreed to in Congress and confirmed by the states, 
render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of 
government, and the preservation of the union." 

Eleven of the states responded promptly by choosing delegates. 
New Hampshire came in late and Rhode Island paid no atten- 
tion to the Convention. Among the fifty-five members of the 
Convention were some of the greatest Americans, including 
eight signers of the Declaration of Independence. The heavy 
work fell on a few leaders. Benjamin Franklin was old, but as 
shrewd as ever. Alexander Hamilton, one of the most impetuous 
members of the Convention, took too extreme ground and lost 
influence. William Paterson of New Jersey spoke for the small 
states. James Wilson of Pennsylvania, later a justice of the 
federal Supreme Court, was the keenest constitutional lawyer. 
The strongest group of the Convention was the Virginia dele- 
gation, including George Washington, who gave it prestige 
throughout the country. 

The man who did most to harmonize the sharp differences 
in the Convention was James Madison of Virginia. In 1787 



The Constitutional Convention called 183 

Madison was only thirty-six years old. A graduate of Princeton 
College, he had seen service in the Virginia legislature and 




George Washington in 1784. (From Wright's portrait.) 

in Congress, where he learned to know the difficulties of the 
Confederation. He was a studious man, and before the Con- 
vention began sent for all the books that he could find on the 



184 Confederation and Federal Constitution 

history of earlier confederations, and prepared a sort of summary 
of those books, which he sent to Washington. He also con- 
sulted with his friends in Virginia and elsewhere, and drew up 
the strongly federal "Virginia Plan" or "Randolph Plan" as 
a basis of argument. 

At the beginning of the Convention it occurred to Madison 
that posterity would be interested in the debates ; and as 
there were no reporters, he took down in shorthand an abbre- 
viated or concentrated statement of the debates, which he 
wrote out in the evenings and submitted to the speakers. 
In these discussions Madison himself took part more than 
fifty times, and throughout he advocated a national govern- 
ment, well knit, strong, and empowered to carry out its own 
just authority. As a representative of the largest and most 
populous state in the Union, the members from the small 
states sometimes thought him unfair; but in a quiet and 
sagacious way he often suggested a middle course, and few 
things against which he argued were adopted. 

118. Blocking out the Constitution (1787) 

The Convention met in Philadelphia in May, 1787, and chose 
Washington to be its president. It then settled to work under 
the "Virginia Plan." May 30, the Convention agreed, as its 
first formal resolution : "That a national government ought to 
be established, consisting of a supreme legislative, executive, 
and judiciary." This meant that the Convention did not con- 
sider itself bound by its original call simply to modify the Articles 
of Confederation. 

Four other plans were suggested in the course of the Conven- 
tion, but none of them were adopted : (i) the Connecticut 
Plan, which would have given more powers to Congress, without 
otherwise improving the Articles of Confederation ; (2) the 
New Jersey Plan, which stood for the views of the small states 
and would have kept equal representation for the states in Con- 
gress; (3) Hamilton's Plan, a highly centralized scheme with 



Compromises of the Constitution 185 

a President and a Senate chosen for Ufe, and the states shorn of 
much of their power; (4) Pinckney's Plan, the details of which 
are not completely known. 

In coming to a conclusion, the Convention sensibly made use 
of the previous experience of the English government, the 
colonies, the states, and the Confederation. For instance, they 
gave the President a limited veto power because that system had 
worked well in Massachusetts. At the same time they discarded 
provisions that had worked ill, such as the nine-states rule, and 
substituted methods which they had seen working well elsewhere. 

119. Compromises of the Constitution (1787) 

Notwithstanding the good will and the skill of the members 
of the Convention, they came near breaking up on several ques- 
tions which involved the rivalry of the geographical sections 
and of the farming, business, and planting interests. These 
difficulties were finally settled by three great compromises : 

(i) The "Connecticut Compromise" adjusted the question 
of representation in Congress between the small states that 
wanted one .house with an equal vote, as in the old Congress, 
and the large states that stood out for two houses with repre- 
sentation in both proportional to population. So obstinate and 
bitter were both sides that Franklin feared lest "our projects 
will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach 
and bye word down to future ages." He therefore moved that 
the Convention be opened every day with prayer. A Connect- 
icut member threw out the suggestion that the people ought to 
be represented in one branch, and the states in the other ; and 
this idea was carried out (July 16) by an agreement that there 
should be an equal vote of states in the Senate and a proportional 
representation in the House. 

(2) The second serious question involved slavery. Northern 
members proposed that direct taxes should be apportioned to the 
states in proportion to the total population, both free and slave. 
Southern members insisted that slaves ought not to be counted 



1 86 Confederation and Federal Constitution 

on the same basis as freemen. The result was a compromise 
by a vote (July 12) that, both in distributing representatives to 
the House and in laying direct taxes, slaves should be taken 
into account at three fifths of their total number. 

(3) On two questions of commerce there were further differ- 
ences between North and South. Northern members wanted 
power to lay navigation acts that would give special assistance 
to American shipping, though they would probably raise the 
freights on southern exports. But some members from the far 
South were strongly opposed to the regulation of the slave trade 
by Congress. A compromise was arranged (August 25) which 
left Congress free to pass acts in aid of American shipping, but 
withheld for twenty years the power to prohibit the slave trade. 

Between May 17, when the Convention met, and September 17, 
when the final form was presented for signature by the members, 
the Convention debated the whole groundwork of the document 
three different times, and gradually the details were worked in. 
At the end, several delegates had gone home in disgust ; and 
three members who were present refused to sign the completed 
work. Thirty-nine of the original fifty-five members, however, 
representing twelve states, affixed their signatures to the Con- 
stitution. Madison records that, at this solemn moment, 
Franklin called the attention of the members to the sun painted 
behind the president's chair. "I have," said he, " often and often, 
in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and 
fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the president, with- 
out being able to tell whether it was rising or setting ; but now, 
at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, and 
not a setting sun." 

120. Substance of the Constitution (1787) 

The document sent out to the states for ratification was not 
a revision of the Articles of Confederation, but a complete new 
Constitution which has proved available for the nation ever 
since. (See Appendix E.) 



Struggle over Ratification 187 

(i) In its form, it was a great improvement because it replaced 
the clumsy Congress with a government of three distinct depart- 
ments of government, the Legislative, the Executive, and the 
Judicial, on the model of the state governments. 

(2) The powers of the federal government were much enlarged, 
and included authority to raise money by its own taxation 
of individuals, power to control the territory belonging to the 
United States, power to admit new states into the Union, and 
large powers over foreign and interstate commerce. 

(3) Sufficient means of enforcing its powers were at last be- 
stowed on the federal government : through the federal courts, 
it could punish those who disobeyed the national laws, and 
the states could be kept in their orbits by decisions of the United 
States Supreme Court. 

(4) The division of powers between the states and the Union 
was made definite, and the states once for all gave up their former 
control over foreign commerce, paper money, and many other 
subjects. By the clause authorizing the United States to con- 
trol "commerce between the states," power was given which a 
century later resulted in control of railroads and interstate cor- 
porations by the federal government. 

121. Struggle over Ratification (1787-1788) 

The Convention wisely provided that the Constitution was to 
go into effect as soon as nine state conventions should have 
ratified it, thus avoiding the fatal requirement of unanimous 
consent which had prevented the amendment of the Articles 
of Confederation. The friends of the new Constitution gave 
themselves the name of "Federahsts," to indicate that the 
system which they favored was not centralized but federal, 
and preserved the proper rights of the states. Their opponents 
could think of no better title than "Anti-Federalists." 

Both sides issued pamphlets and published elaborate letters 
in the newspapers. The most famous of these arguments 
was a series of essays skillfully defending the Constitution, 



1 88 Confederation and Federal Constitution 

written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, 
which appeared for many weeks in succession in New York news- 
papers over the name Federalist. To this day the Federalist 
remains one of the wisest and best discussions of the Constitu- 
tion. 

All the states except Rhode Island called the necessary state 
conventions, and the fight over the Constitution raged from end 
to end of the land. The Anti-FederaUsts predicted that Con- 
gress would overawe the states, that the President would prove 
a despot, and that the courts would destroy liberty, while the 
Senate would be . a stronghold of aristocracy. In one state 
convention a member objected that "if there be no religious 
test required, pagans, deists, and Mohametans might obtain 
offices among us, and that the senators and representatives 
might be pagans." The point most criticized was the lack of 
a bill of rights, such as was found in all the state constitutions. 

In five states, however, the Federalists had an easy task : 
Delaware was first to ratify (December 7, 1787), and that by a 
unanimous vote ; the great influence of Pennsylvania was thrown 
into the same scale (December 12) by a vote of 46 to 23 ; next 
came unanimous ratification by New Jersey (December 18), and 
by Georgia (January 2, 1788) ; Connecticut followed, after a hot 
discussion, by a vote of 128 to 40 (January 9). 

The first dangerous contest was in Massachusetts, where the 
majority of the delegates elected were against the Constitution, 
for reasons well stated by a country member : "These lawyers, 
and men of learning and moneyed men that talk so finely, and 
gloss over matters so smoothly, and make us poor illiterate 
people swallow down the pill, expect to get into Congress them- 
selves ; they expect to be the managers of this Constitution, and 
get all the power and all the money into their own hands, and 
then they will swallow up all us little folks, like the great Levia- 
than, Mr. President — yes, just as the whale swallowed up 
Jonah. That is what I am afraid of." The balance of powei 
in the convention was held by its president, John Hancock^ who 



Struggle over Ratification 189 

was kept away at first by a convenient attack of the celebrated 
"Hancock gout." He had to be secured by promising him the 
governorship and hinting at the presidency of the United States. 
As a last resort, the friends of the Constitution agreed that 
certain amendments be added, not as a condition of ratification, 
but as a strong suggestion. With all these influences, on the test 
vote (February 6, 1788), Massachusetts ratified by only 187 
votes to 168. 

The contest in Massachusetts was the crisis of the Constitu- 
tion, for the result greatly influenced other states. Maryland 
ratified by a vote of 63 to 11 (April 28) ; South Carolina ratified 

The Ninth PILLAR erected ! 

"The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, fliall be fufiitient forthe eftablifli- 
ment of this Conftitution, Letween the States fo ratifying the fame." Art. vii. 

INCIPIENT MaGNI PROCEDERE MENSES. 



cr'fi 




The Attraction nmft 
be irnliSiibli 



Adoption of the Constitution, 1788. (From the 
Independent Chronicle.) 

by a vote of 149 to 73 (May 23) ; and New Hampshire, by a vote 
of 57 to 46, made herself the ninth state and completed "the 
federal arch" (June 21). 

The Virginia convention supposed that their state would be 
necessary to make nine. Madison was strongly for the Con- 
stitution, and Washington threw all his mighty influence in 
its favor. The strongest opponent was Patrick Henry, who did 
not shine as a logician. When taxes came to be discussed, he 
exclaimed: "I never will give up that darling word 'requisi- 
tion ' : my country may give it up ; a majority may wrest it from 
me, but I will never give it up till my grave." After the greatest 
exertions, Madison succeeded in having the long list of pro- 
posed amendments made a "recommendation" and not a con- 



190 Confederation and Federal Constitution 

dition of ratification ; and the Constitution was ratified by the 
narrow vote of 89 to 79 (June 25, 1788). 

The New York convention was at first hostile to the Consti- 
tution, and Governor George Clinton, the pohtical chief of the 
state, appeared in the convention to oppose it. Its successful 
champion was Alexander Hamilton. Again the plan of a con- 
ditional ratification was proposed, but finally by the close vote 
of 30 to 27 New York ratified (July 26, 1788), "in full con- 
fidence" that certain changes would be made after the new gov- 
ernment should be organized. 

For some time two states still held off. The North Caro- 
lina convention adjourned without taking a vote, but a second 
convention was called which duly ratified the Constitution 
(November 21, 1789). Rhode Island at this time called no con- 
vention, but was brought to terms later, when Congress pro- 
posed to treat it as a foreign nation ; and she completed the 
roll of thirteen ratifying states (May 29, 1790). 

122. Review 

From 1 78 1 to 1788 the affairs of the Union were carried on 
by the Congress of the Confederation, acting under the Articles 
of Confederation. This government obtained a favorable treaty 
of peace from Great Britain, which acknowledged the independ- 
ence of the United States, and accepted as boundaries the Missis- 
sippi on the west, the Great Lakes on the north, and the parallel 
of 31° on the south. 

Congress was distressed over national finances, unable to pay 
off any part of the national debt or to keep up the interest. It 
could not obtain the much desired treaties of commerce with 
Spain and Great Britain, because the states would not agree 
to national control of foreign commerce. Though the country 
was growing in population and wealth it felt poor, and some of 
the states passed trick laws for the relief of debtors. Several 
revolutionary movements alarmed the country, especially the 
Shays Rebellion of Massachusetts. The beginning of a future 



References 191 

division was seen when the northern states began to emancipate 
the slaves, thus creating two groups of states in the Union. 

During this period, most of the states which claimed western 
lands ceded to the federal government all or a great part of their 
claims. Congress provided for surveying the West into mile- 
square blocks, and began to sell land to companies. The people 
of Tennessee and Kentucky set up short-lived governments of 
their own. Congress created the first territorial government, 
by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. 

Congress was a badly organized, weak body, and could not se- 
cure amendments from the states to enlarge its powers, because 
the unanimous vote of all thirteen was necessary. Hence a 
Constitutional Convention was called by Congress (1786). 

In that Convention, which sat in 1787, a new document was 
drawn up, which sought by judicious compromises to secure 
the support of most of the country. With great difficulty it 
was ratified by nine states, which were enough to put it in 
motion. The other four states soon ratified the Constitution 
and thus completed the " more perfect Union." 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 164, 176, 179. — Avery, U.S., 
VI. — Becker, Beginnings, 272. — Bogart, Econ. Hist., 32, 145. — 
Coman, Indiist. Hist., 129, 159, 161, 163. — Epoch Maps, no. vi. — 
Fish, Am. Dipt., 47, 70; Am. Nationality, 23, 486. — Johnson, Union 
and Democracy, i, 9, 37, 39, 42. — McLaughlin, Co)ifederation and 
Constitution. — Shepherd, Hist. Atlas, 196. 

Secondary. Bassett, U.S., 214-216, 222-254. — Channing, U.S., 
III. chs. .xii, xv-xvii. — Coman, Indust. Hist. (rev. ed.), 106-131. — 
Farrand, Framing of the Constitution. — Fish, Am. Dipt., chs. v-vii. — 
Fiske, Critical Period. — Foster, Century of Dipt., ch. ii. — Hunt, 
James Madison, chs. vi-xvi. — Johnson, Union and Democracy, chs. 
i, ii. — Lodge, George Washington, I. ch. xi, II. ch. i ; Alexander Hamil- 
ton, ch. iv. — McLaughlin, Confederation and Constitution. — Mc- 
Master, U.S., I. 103-423, 436-524, III. 89-116. — Morse, John 
Adams, ch. ix; Benjamin Franklin, chs. xiv, xv; Thomas Jefferson, 
chs. vi, viii. — Phillips, West in Dipl. of the Rev. — Roosevelt, Winning 
of the West, III. — Sparks, Expansion, chs. vii-xi. — Treat, Land Sys- 



192 Confederation and Federal Constitution 

lem, chs. i, ii. — Tyler, Patrick Henry, chs. xvii-xix. — Walker, Making 
of the Nation, 1-62. — Winsor, Westward Movement, 225-374. 

Soixrces. Am. Hist. Leaflets, nos. 8, 22, 28, 32. — Beard, Readings, 
§§ 14-21. — Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 179, 185-200. — Callen- 
der, Econ. Hist., 183-235. — Farrand, Records of the Federal Convention. — 
Harding, Select Orations, nos. 6-9. — Hart, Contemporaries, II. §§ 215- 
220, III. 37-75 ; Patriots and Statesmen, II. 172-176, 191-361 passim. — 
Hill, Liberty Docs., chs. xvi, xvii. ^Johnson, Readings, §§ 18-21, 26- 
39. — Munro, Selections from the Federalist. — Old South Leaflets, nos. 
I, 12, 13, 15, 16, 40, 70, 99, 127, 186, 197. 

Illustrative. Atherton, The Conqueror (Hamilton). — Bellamy, 
Duke of Stockbridge (Shays's Rebellion). — -Bird, Nick of the Woods 
(Ky.). — Gray, Kentucky Chronicle. — Hopkinson, Essays. 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., VI. — Mentor, serial no. 75. — Sparks, Ex- 
pansion. — Wilson, Am. People, III. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Service under the Confederation of: Robert R. Livingston; or 
Robert Morris; or Henry Knox. [§ 107] — (2) Service in foreign 
countries of: John Adams; or John Jay; or Henry Laurens. [§ 108] — • 
(3) Depreciation of Revolutionary paper money. [§ 109] — (4) The 
Shays Rebellion. [§ m] — (5) The state of Franklin. [§114] — • 
(6) First western settlement by the Ohio Company. [§ 115] — ■ (7) How 
was the Northwest Ordinance secured? [§ 115] — (8) Washington's 
opinions of the Confederation. [§ 116] — (9) Services in the Federal 
Convention of one of the following statesmen: Hamilton; Paterson; 
Wilson; Randolph; Madison; Johnson; Sherman. [§ 117] — ■ 
(10) Members of the Convention who did not sign the Constitution. 
[§ 119] — (11) Ratification of the Constitution in one of the thirteen 
original states. [§ 121] 

Topics for Further Search 

(12) Were the envoys justified in breaking their instructions in 1782? 
[§ 108] — (13) Facts about the British carrying off negro slaves. [§ no] 
(14) Effect of the " Stay and Tender " laws. [§ in] — (15) Why did 
the northern states prohibit slavery? [§112] — (16) Why did the seven 
states give up their western claims? [§ 113] — (17) Reason for the 
failure of one of the following Constitutional Amendments : Five Per 
Cent; Revenue; Commerce. [§ 116] — (18) Defenders of small states, 
or of slavery, or of the slave trade, in the Convention. [§ 119] • 



CHAPTER XI 



THE ORIGINAL PEOPLE OF THE FEDERAL UNION (:/8o-i8oo) 



123. The Population 

What were the numbers, characteristics, and capacities of 
the people who made and adopted the federal Constitution? 
The census of 1790 showed a total population of 3,930,000, not 
including about 80,000 Indians. Of these, 60,000 were free 
negroes and 700,00c more were slaves. In the remaining 
3,170,000 persons the English race was predominant in all of the 
states. There were perhaps 300,000 Scotch-Irish, chiefly along 
the frontier ; a 



small but persist- 


j^-..,. /..^^^ 


ent Dutch element 


/■"'""•■/ \ I T' ^'Z^^ ^ /5 / 


in New York ; over 


A->-i "'"1 i L ^ Yf^t^-^-^' 


175,000 Germans, 


"kP^tS 


mostly in Penn- 
sylvania and the 


West ; and a small 
Huguenot element 


^'^■-^-sl^'~''ji^^ 


in South Carolina. 


1 1 SeltliMj Area In 1790. ' ^ ff S / 


Over nine tenths 
of the people lived 


Settled Area in 1790. 


in the country. In 


1790 the only places having a population 



greater than 8000 were Philadelphia, with about 42,000 people 
(including suburbs); the city of New York, with 33,000; 
Boston, with 18,000; Charleston, with 16,000; and Baltimore, 
with 14,000. Only about one twentieth of the whole population 
lived west of the crest of the Appalachians; and Louisville 
was the farthest town on the Ohio River. 
hart's new amer. hist. — 13 193 



194 The Original People of the Federal Union 



124. Farming 

Nearly all the white men in America worked on farms at least 
part of the year, and most of them on their own farms, and their 
life was much Uke that of the colonists (§ 72). Northern farm- 
ers raised vegetables for their own use, hay for their stock, 
corn and other grain, in some places hemp and flax, and salted 

down pork and beef. 
The most valuable crop 
was wheat, cultivated 
from New England to 
Virginia, and forming 
the basis of a large 
export of grain and 
flour. In Maryland 
and Virginia tobacco 
was still abundant, 
while South Carolina 
raised rice and still a 
little indigo. 

For an example of 
prosperity, take a 
French traveler's ac- 
count of a Quaker 
family living near Phil- 




Wall Paper Used in the Perry House, 
Keene, N. H. 



adelphia. The three daughters, beautiful, easy in their manners, 
and modest in their deportment, helped the mother in the 
household. The father was constantly in the fields, where he 
grew wheat and other crops. He had an excellent garden and 
orchard, ten horses, a big corn house, a barn full of wheat, oats, 
and other grain, a dairy, in which the family made excellent 
cheese. "Their sheep give them wool of which the cloth is 
made that covers the father and the children. This cloth is 
spun in the house, wove and fulled in the neighborhood. All 
the linen is made in the house." 



Trade and Business 195 

125. Free Labor and Slavery 

The farmers for the most part had large famihes and hence 
did not need to hire much labor. There was a good demand 
for handicraftsmen, such as shoemakers, harness makers, and 
tailors. Their wages were in purchasing value only about half 
what wages are to-day, but every wage earner who had the 
ambition and enterprise and industry could strike out for him- 
self, by taking up land and starting a farm. 

Much of the hard labor was done by slaves (§ 75). They were 
commonly treated with kindness, but there were instances 
everywhere of cruel treatment. In Georgia and South Caro- 
lina, — where in 1790, out of 330,000 people, 136,000 were 
negro slaves, — much of the labor was exceptionally hard. In 
all the South the cotton crop was small and of little value, 
because it took so much labor to clear the seed out of the fiber. 
In 1794 Eli Whitney, a Yankee schoolmaster living in Georgia, 
invented the cotton gin, a simple machine which could do the 
work of scores of men. This made cotton cultivation very 
profitable and the production of cotton rose from a few hun- 
dred bales in 1790 to 600,000 bales in 1820; and the growing 
of this crop led to an increased demand for slave labor. 

Manufactures, . except shipbuilding, were not much devel- 
oped in America in 1800. A little iron and some steel were 
made, all of it with charcoal. Carpet weaving and broom 
making had sprung up, and Philadelphia exported from 
200,000 to 350,000 barrels of flour every year; this industry 
was aided by Oliver Evans's invention of the endless band 
elevator, to carry grain and flour from floor to floor. In such 
manufactures nearly all the workmen were free laborers. 

126. Trade and Business 

The shipping trade again became prosperous after the war, 
and new avenues of commerce were opened. In 1784 the 
ship Empress of China made the first voyage from the 



196 The Original People of the Federal Union 

United States to China, and brought home as part of her 
freight 300,000 silver dollars. A profitable trade ensued with 
China, India, and the east coast of Africa. About 7000 men 
were engaged in the cod fishery, and several thousand in the 
whale fishery. The near-by fur trade fell off as settlers pushed 
westward, but John Jacob Astor, a New York merchant, made 
what was then considered the enormous fortune of over a mil- 
Uon dollars, by developing the business in the far Northwest. 

As an example of the rich and influential class of American 
merchants, let us take John Hancock of Boston (§§ 76, 121). He 
bought ships, sold ships, and chartered ships to carry his cargoes. 
He bought and sold country produce, and exported fish, whale 
oil and whalebone, pot and pearl ashes, naval stores (pitch, 
tar, and turpentine), lumber, masts, and ship timber. He im- 
ported dress goods for men and women, manufactures of all 
kinds, and coal. The Hancock firm also did a banking busi- 
ness, lent money, held mortgages and placed them for friends, 
and issued drafts upon their London correspondents. 

In contrast with the great merchant was the country store- 
keeper, with his shelves of hardware, cotton goods, and a few 
groceries, with plenty of hard liquors. 

127. Roads and Waterways 

Interior commerce was hampered by a lack of roads and water- 
ways ; but there was a lively coasting trade along the Atlantic. 

Tolerable wagon roads were built about 1790 from Phila- 
delphia, through Bedford in southern Pennsylvania, to Pitts- 
burgh ; and later from Cumberland on the upper Potomac to the 
Monongahela River. The so-called Wilderness Road, marked 
out by Daniel Boone, the only direct overland route into Ken- 
tucky, was widened into a wagon track (1795) and served as 
the principal highway into the Southwest (map, page 268). 

About this time, a new method of road making was introduced 
from England : a layer of large stones, a foot or more in depth, 
was first put down, and on it was laid a crowning of small, 



Roads and Waterways 197 

angular stones. Under travel these consolidated, making a 
smooth, hard surface. Many such roads, called "turnpikes" 
or "stone pikes," were built in America by individuals or 
corporations, beginning with a stretch from Philadelphia to 
Lancaster (1792) ; and large streams were bridged. On such 
roads and bridges the owners charged toll. 




Cross Section of a Turnpike on a Side Hill. 




Cross Section of a Turnpike. (Showing arrangement of 
layers of stone.) 

The second half of the eighteenth century was a period of 
canal building in England, and the system spread to America. 
After the Revolution Washington visited the upper Potomac and 
Mohawk valleys, and suggested building canals to the West by 
both routes. The governments of Maryland and Virginia 
thereupon united in a plan for improving the navigation of the 
Potomac. A little later a traveler named Elkanah Watson 
formed "the sublime plan of opening an uninterrupted water 
communication from the Hudson to Lake Ontario." A few 
canals were actually built, or begun, in the decade from 1793 
to 1803, notably the Santee in South Carolina, the Dismal 
Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina, and the Middlesex 
from Boston to Lowell. 



1 98 The Original People of the Federal Union 

128. Inventions and Machinery 

To carry on the new enterprises, there was a rapid develop- 
ment of joint stock companies after 1790. Insurance, bridge, 
and turnpike companies, manufacturing concerns, and especially 
banks were chartered by the state legislatures. All of these 
companies had special charters and the legislatures were beset 
by demands to grant privileges to new corporations. 

We are now accustomed to rely, for manufactures on a large 
scale, on steam power and machinery, which have taken the 




Machinery in Samuel Slater's Mill. 



place of the old hand labor. It is hard to realize now that, at 
the beginning of the nineteenth century, the only motive force 
for erecting buildings, for making iron or cloth, for all the 
farm work and transportation, was the muscles of men and 
animals, except wind, water power, or- the tide, by which a 
few mills were run. In 1800 there was hardly a steam engine 
in America, and not a power loom. 



Spirit of Humanity 199 

The making of woolen and cotton cloth was aided about the 
time of the Revolution by four English inventions : Hargreaves's 
''spinning jenny" (1767); Arkwright's spinning frame (1769); 
Crompton's mule spinner (1779); and Cartwright's power 
loom (1785). The first spinning machinery in the United 
States was made by Samuel Slater of Pawtucket, Rhode 
Island, in 1790, and that started the woolen, cotton, and hemp 
mills of the United States. The first power loom here was set 
up by F. C. Lowell at Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1813. 

Several other important inventions can be traced back to 
this period, such as Oliver Evans's power dredge, and Jacob 
Perkins's nail-making machine. The renowned Yankee indus- 
try of clock making on a large scale was also begun by Eli 
Terry at Plymouth, Connecticut. The use of steam for pro- 
pelling ships was suggested by two American inventors. John 
Fitch put a boat on the Delaware propelled by a steam engine 
at a speed of seven miles an hour (1786), and James Rumsey 
ran a steam craft of another type on the Potomac River (1787). 
Washington predicted that Rumsey's invention would solve 
the problem of water transportation. 

129. Spirit or Huaianity 

Another proof that America was changing was a new 
spirit of humanity and sympathy. Throughout the world 
during the eighteenth century, the family, the school, the 
shop, and especially the jail, abounded in cruelty. The con- 
stable beat the vagrant, the master workman beat the appren- 
tice, the farmer beat the indentured servant or maid, the 
planter beat the slave. The insane man or woman was treated 
literally as a beast — chained, starved, and flogged. The 
criminal or the man charged with crime was brutalized in a 
poisonous and stifling jail, a school of criminals. Americans 
who won the battles of the Revolution, and the sailors in 
John Paul Jones's ships, were often half starved and were 
beaten by their own officers. Debtors might in any state in the 



20O The Original People of the Federal Union 

Union be lodged in jail and kept there the best of their lives fci 
a petty debt. 

Such oppression and disregard of one's neighbor were not 
only contrary to Christianity, but were also opposed to the 
great Revolutionary doctrine of the equality of man, set forth 
in the bills of rights of every state constitution. EquaUty was 
so well carried out that foreign travelers were amazed to see 
innkeepers sit down with their guests, and to hear that mili- 
tary ofhcers were chosen by their men. Gradually benevolent 
societies began to spring up in aid of the weak and helpless, and 
a new sense arose of the duty of the community to all its people. 
Moreover, this feeling of sympathy and responsibility began to 
extend to the slaves. Hence Thomas Jefferson, born and bred 
a slaveholder, wrote in 1781 : "Can the liberties of a nation be 
thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a 
conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of 
the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with 
his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect 
that God is just ; that his justice cannot sleep forever." 

130. Democratic Spirit 

Notwithstanding the bold assertion that the people had the 
"right to govern themselves," the United States from 1780 to 
1800 was far from being a thoroughgoing democracy. In the 
New England states, the ministers and the merchants were 
still practically an aristocracy, holding, as John Adams put it, 
that " the rich and the well-born and the able must be separated 
from the mass and placed by themselves." Even the little 
New England town meetings were not free from the mastery 
of the local squire. A satirist poked fun at them as follows : 

" Yet at town meetings ev'ry chief 
Pinn'd faith on great M'Fingal's sleeve, 
And as he motion 'd, all by rote 
Rais'd sympathetic hands to vote." 

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia farrners were not 



i 



School Life and Colleges 2^i. 

influenced so much by great family names as by political organ- 
izations. The first state nominating convention was held in 
Pennsylvania in 1788. Two years later Senator Maclay ob- 
served that in New York, "The Sons of St. Tammany had 
a grand parade through the town in Indian dresses. . . . There 
seems to be some kind of scheme laid of erecting some kind of 
order or society under this denomination." Within ten years, 
the Tammany Society did develop into a political force. How- 
ever, the organization of the New York voters remained in the 
hands of two rival clans, the friends of the Livingstons and 
the friends of the Clintons, who early developed the practice, 
whenever they got into power, of turning their political oppo- 
nents out of ofl&ce. 

131. School Life and Colleges 

After the Revolution the opportunities for education rapidly 
increased in the United States (§ 51). New England kept up 
rural schools in hundreds of "district schoolhouses," which 
received both boys and girls as young as two years old. The 
teachers were slenderly paid, and were "boarded round" from 
family to family in the district. Similar public common 
schools were organized in the Northwest. Neither the middle 
states nor the South set up common schools till much later. 
Most of the towns in the Union had schools, usually sup- 
ported by fees. In attending such a school in Philadelphia, 
Alexander Graydon read Latin fables, learned Roman history, 
fought the other boys, was flogged by his teacher, and when 
fourteen years old had read Ovid, Vergil, Csesar, and Sallust, 
and was reading Horace and Cicero. 

For secondary education New England developed a system 
of endowed academies which spread into the middle states and 
West. Among them were the two Phillips Academies of 
Andover and Exeter, and the Lexington (Kentucky) Gram- 
mar School. Such a thing as a public high school existed only 
in a few favored New England towns ; but wealthy families 



202 The Original People of the Federal Union 

throughout the Union 




often had private tutors 
for their children. Sev-- 
eral new colleges also 
were founded : the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania 
was reorganized and put 
on a collegiate basis 
(1799); and in 1795 
was established the germ 
of the University of 
North Carolina, the first 
state institution of the 
kind. The first profes- 
sional schools in the 
United States were two 
medical schools founded 
in Philadelphia and 
Boston. 

The formal education of girls stopped in what we should 
call the grammar grade ; but the daughters of well-to-do 
families embroidered, tapped the harpsichord, and read good 
books ; and there were some girls' boarding schools. 

132. Literature and Art 

The United States still had no genuinely national literature, 
for most of the authors followed English models and were very 
dull. The most admired American poets were Philip Freneau, 
who wrote stirring patriotic songs during the Revolution, and 
Joel Barlow, whose epic. The Vision of Columbus, is a weak 
imitation of Pope's Hotner's Iliad. The only satirist and 
essayist of the time who is now much read was Benjamin 
Franklin, decidedly the most distinguished American author of 
the eighteenth century. 

The ope field of literature in which Americans excelled 



Sampler Embroidered by a Little Girl. 



Literature and Art 



203 



was in the writings of public men, who furnished a new stock of 
political ideas to the world. Some of these books are descrip- 
tive, like Jefferson's famous Notes on Virginia; others are discus- 
sions of public ques- 
tions, like the Federal- 
ist, and Alexander 
Hamilton's financial 
reports. George 
Washington wrote 
admirable letters on 
public questions. 

The fondness of 
Americans for news- 
papers and periodi- 
cals showed itself in 
the first daily news- 
paper, the Pennsyl- 
vania Packet, founded 
in 1784. The news- 
papers were dull ; they 
had no editorials, few 
advertisements, and 
filled many columns 
with reprints from 
foreign newspapers, 
and with long-winded 
essays on politics. 
Two literary magazines were founded about this time: the 
Universal Asylum and Columbian Magazine, of Philadelphia, 
and the Boston Magazine. 

Some notable artists appeared in this period — especially 
Benjamin West, who went to England and was very successful 
there; and the portrait artists Copley, Gilbert Stuart, and 
Trumbull, to whom we owe our knowledge of the appearance 
of many of the great men of the time. 




St. Michael's Chitrch, Charleston, Built 
IN 1 76 1. (Type of massive stone church.) 



^04 The Original People of the Federal Union 

The most notable American art was the architecture of the 
best houses and pubUc buildings. Such residences as the 
Chew House in Germantown (p. 117) and the Harrison house 
in Virginia, are among the best examples of American archi- 
tecture. All over the eastern states are still to be seen good 
courthouses and other public buildings and a few good church 
buildings of the time : for example, the Old South Church in 
Boston, Trinity Church and St. Paul's in New York, and St. 
Michael's in Charleston (p. 203). 

133. Religion and the Churches 

The churches and other rehgious bodies were still, as in 
colonial times (§ 54), the greatest moral and intellectual interest 

of the times. After 
the Revolution, most 
of the great churches 
in America sought to 
orga.nize in a national 
way so as to fit in 
with the national life. 
(i) As a logical re- 
sult of their theories 
of republican govern- 
Squark-pewed Church, Salisbury, Mass., ment, the southern 
Built IN 1 79 1. (Type of eighteenth-century states withdrew their 

meetinghouse.) -, ,• . r it- 

■ public support 01 the 

Episcopal Church (§ 54). In 1784 Samuel Seabury was 
consecrated as Bishop of Connecticut at Aberdeen, Scotland; 
he came over, and in 1785 was held the first general conven- 
tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. 
(2) The Methodist Church, founded by Wesley and White- 
field (§ 56), began its American organization in 1784, when the 
Methodists sur^moned a national conference, which adopted 
the title of Methodist Episcopal and gave to Francis Asbury 
and Thomas Coke the title of Superintendent, later Bishop. 




Religion and the Churches 205 

(3) The long prejudice against the Catholics softened, and 
several states put them on an equal fooling with the Protes- 
tants. In 1789 one of the Maryland Carrolls was made 
Catholic bishop of Baltimore and thus that church was formally- 
organized in the United States. 

(4) Another type of church government was established when 
in 1789 the Presbyterian local synods united in "the General 




Quaker Meeting, 1809. (From Kendall's Travels.) 



Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of 
America," which has ever since been the supreme governing 
body of that church. The Dutch Reformed Church of New 
York and New Jersey, though closely akin to the Presbyterian 
in doctrine, kept its separate synod. 

(5) The thousand Congregational churches in New England 
were nearly all supported by taxation, and each was its own 
highest tribunal ; for there was no general convention. 

(6) The Quakers also practiced local self-government; and 



2o6 The Original People of the Federal Union 

both Quakers and Methodists freely admitted women to take 
part in their service. 

Among the many other Protestant denominations were the 
German Lutherans, the Moravians or United Brethren, and 
Dunkards ; and the Mennonites, none of whom would take an 
oath, or fight, or accept office, or go to law. The Universalists 
had a few congregations. The curious communities known as 
the Shakers were founded during the Revolution by Anna 
Lee, whom her followers called the Elect Lady, or Mother Ann. 




Shaker Dance, about 1830. (From a contemporary print.) 



The Jews had synagogues in some large places, but no cen- 
tral organization. On the frontier, religion was emotional. 
There was a great revival of religion in 1800, and the "camp 
meeting" was invented in Kentucky. 

All the churches enjoyed the greatest religious freedom that 
had ever been known in the history of mankind. Each denom- 
ination selected its ministers, laid down its doctrine, and dis- 
ciplined its members in its own way. For the individual there 
was equal freedom. The federal Constitution of 1787 prohibited 
any religious test for federal office ; and the states in course of 



Review 207 

time removed most of the religious qualifications both for 
voters and for public officers. 

134. Review 

To describe the American people just after the Revolution 
is a hard task, because there was no single kind of American 
people. Nearly a fifth of the whole population was negro. 
About a fifth of the wl^ite people were Scotch-Irish, German, 
or Dutch. The cities were few and small. 

After 1794 the cotton gin made cotton a profitable crop. 

Manufactures for general markets began to appear, manned 
by free workmen. A new shipping trade sprang up with the 
Orient, and large business houses and local merchants increased. 
Wagon roads were extended into the far West, and in the older 
parts of the country stone roads or turnpikes were built, and a 
few canals were opened. Numerous corporations were formed 
for banks, insurance companies, road companies, and manu- 
facturing companies ; textile machinery was introduced ; and 
efforts were made to invent practical steamboats. 

After a long period of disregard for the rights of the poor and 
weak, the humanitarian spirit of the Revolution was applied to 
better the conditions of the unfortunate, the poor, and the 
slave. Steps were taken toward a more democratic .type of 
government ; for the Americans still felt a deference toward 
what John Adams called "the rich, the well-born, and the able." 

The schools of some states shared in this democratic spirit, 
for common schools were established for both boys and girls. 
Academies began to increase and a few colleges were founded. 
This period witnessed the growth of genuine American liter- 
ature and architecture. Many religious denominations in the 
country provided themselves with national organizations. The 
people began to feel that they belonged to one nation. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 
Geography and Maps. See map, p. 268. Johnson, Union and Democ- 
racy, 49, 125. — See U. S. Supt. of Docs., Geog. and Explor. List. 



2o8 The Original People of the Federal Union 

Secondary. Adams, U.S., I. 1-184. — Bassett, Federalist System, 
clis. x-xiii. — Bogart, Econ. Hist., chs. x, xi. — Fish, Am. Nationality, 
ch. i. — Fiske, Critical Period, 50-89. — Hunt, James Madison, 67-86. 

— Locke, Antislavery, 88-111, 166-197. — ^ McMaster, U.S., I. 1-102, 
423-436, II. 1-24, 57-66, 158-165, 538-582, III. 514-516, V. 268-284. — 
Merwin, Thomas Jejferson, 45-58. — Rhodes, U.S., I. 3-27. — Schou- 
ler, U.S., I. 1-12, 221-241. — Sparks, Expansion, 135-187. — Weeden, 
New Engl. II. 816-875. — See also references to chapter vi. 

Sources. Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 181-184, 200-208, 219- 
234, 240, 252-275. — Bowne, Girl's Life Eighty Years Ago. — Caldwell 
and Persinger, Source History, 246-264. — • Grant, Memoirs of an Am. 
Lady. - — Graydon, Memoirs. — Hart, Contemporaries, III. §§ 10-36; 
Patriots and Statesmen, II. 168-172, 185-190, 241-250, 291-293, 368, 
378r38i, III. 32-34, 67-71, 103-107, 213-215, 247. — James, Readings, 
§§ 39-44- — Scudder, Men and Manners in America. 

Illustrative. Barr, Maid of Maiden Lane; Trinity Bells (N.Y.). — 
Brown, Arthur Mervyn (Philadelphia). — Cleghorn, Turnpike Lady. — 
Earle, Two Centuries of Costume. — Kennedy, Swallow Barn (Va.). — 
May, In Old Quinnebasset (N.E.). — Shelton, Salt-Box House, 168- 
237. — Stowe, Minister's Wooing; Oldtown Folks (N.E.). 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., V-VII. — Earle's books, cited above and 
in refs. to ch. v. — Mentor, serial nos., 77, 106, 109. — Sparks, Expan- 
sion. — Wilson, A m. People, III. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Slaves on plantations in 1790. [§125] — (2) First American voy- 
age to China. [§ 126] — (3) Early American turnpike roads. [§ 127] — 
(4) Introduction of spinning machinery by Slater. [§ 128] — (5) Steair- 
boats of Fitch and Rumsey. [§ 128] — (6) Jefferson's opinions on 
slavery. [§ 129] — (7) New England district schools about 1800. [§ 131] 

— (8) Girls' schools about 1800. [§ 131] — (9) Characteristic letters of 
George Washington. [§ 132] — (10) The Shakers. [§ 133] 

Topics for Further Search 

(11) One of the following races in the United States in 1790: Scotch- 
Irish ; Germans; English. [§ 123] — (12) Conditions in some one of 
the cities in 1790. [§ 123] — (13) Account of Whitney's cotton 
gin. [§ 125] — (14) Whale fishery about 1790. [§ 126] ^ (15) East 
India trade about 1800. [§ 126] — (16) The Wilderness Road. [§ 127] — 
(17) Early plans for an Erie Canal. [§ 127] — (18) Treatment of Ameri- 
can sailors on their own ships. [§ 129] — (19) Origin of the Tammany 
Society. [§ 130] — (20) Details of the organization ot some one of the 
national churches about 1800. [§ 133J 



CHAPTER Xn 
APPLYING THE CONSTITUTION (1789-1793) 
135. Starting the Government (1789-1793) 

The federal Constitution laid down the general principles 
of the government ; but many details had to be settled by Con- 
gress, whose work in the early years was hardly less important 
than that of the Philadelphia Convention. The first presi- 
dential election came in 1788. There was no contest for the 
presidency, as everybody expected George Washington to have 
the first vote of every elector. John Adams was elected Vice 
President. 

The members of Congress drifted into New York slowly, so 
that both houses were not organized till April 6, 1789. Fred- 
erick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, and Vice President John Adams 
took his seat as presiding officer of the Senate. Then the two 
houses laid down rules for their procedure, and thus made prece- 
dents which now have almost the weight of law. The House 
from the beginning, and the Senate from 1793, have almost 
always sat in open session. Congress voted its members a 
salary of $6 (later $8) a day while in session. Committees at 
first were chosen by ballot in both houses, but after 1790 the 
House authorized the Speaker to appoint all its committees, a 
great power which he enjoyed until 1911. Within a few years 
there began to grow up a system of standing committees ap- 
pointed at the beginning of each session. At last the people of 
the United States had a government that could govern. Ever 
since 1775 they had been moving toward this " more perfect 
union," which could pass laws binding on every person in the 
land. 

hart's new amer. hist. — 14 209 



2IO Applying the Constitution 

136. The President and the Departments (i 789-1 793) 

Meanwhile, Washington arrived in New York and was 
received by thousands of enthusiastic people. On April 30, 
1789, he was solemnly inaugurated at Federal Hall on Wall 
Street, where he took the oath of office, and made a simple 
and earnest speech. Congress voted the President $25,000 a 
year, the largest salary then received by any man in the 
United States. Washington liked ceremony, and it was un- 




United States in 1790. 

derstood that he approved the proposed title of "His High- 
ness, the President of the United States of America and Pro- 
tector of their Liberties," though Patrick Henry said of the 
title that "it squinted toward monarchy." Eventually no title 
was given by law ; so that the official form of address to the 
President is simply, "Mr. President." 

One of the earliest tasks of Congress was to organize the 
executive departments, and in its first session it created three : 
(i) The Department of Foreign Affairs (a name soon changed 



Amendments and Courts 211 

to Department of State) ; it was under Thomas Jefferson as 
Secretary of State. (2) The War Department; Henry Knox 
was reappointed Secretary of War. (3) The Treasury; the 
first Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton. 
In addition, Congress created the office of Attorney-General, 
who later became the head of a department, but for many 
years had only clerks under him. The former Post Office 
was continued, and Samuel Osgood was appointed Postmaster- 
General. 

All these officers were appointed by the President subject 
to the confirmation of the Senate. By the casting vote of 
John Adams in the Senate, Congress established the wholesome 
principle that the President should have the power of remov- 
ing heads of departments and other officers without the consent 
of the Senate. He is thus enabled to carry on his constitutional 
duty "to see that the laws are faithfully executed." 

The President at once began to use his constitutional right 
to call on the heads of departments for written opinions ; and 
he went further by asking the three Secretaries and the Attor- 
ney-General to meet him from time to time and discuss public 
business. This is the beginning of the unofficial "Cabinet," 
to which the Secretary of the Navy, Postmaster-General, Secre- 
tary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of 
Commerce, and Secretary of Labor have since been added. 

137. Amendments and Courts (1789-1793) 

Another early task of Congress was the consideration of the 
constitutional amendments that had been recommended by 
state conventions. Ten amendments passed by the requisite 
two-thirds vote in both houses, were duly ratified by three 
fourths of the states, and thus became part of the Constitu- 
tion (1791). These amendments formed a little bill of rights, 
assuring jury trial, freedom of speech and of the press, etc., 
against any action by the federal government, and included as 
the Tenth Article the important provision that "The powers 



212 Applying the Constitution 

not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor 
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States 
respectively, or to the people." (See Appendix E.) 

The Constitution provides that there shall be a Supreme Court 
and inferior courts, leaving it to Congress to settle the details. 
By a "Judiciary Act" (September 24, 1789) most of which is still 
in force, Congress created two kinds of inferior courts from 
which appeals could be taken to the Supreme Court. Appeals 
could also be taken from the highest state courts to the federal 
Supreme Court, in cases involving the federal law. Thus all 
suits turning on federal law might finally be brought before the 
Supreme Court of the United States, so that there should be 
one highest authority on federal law throughout the country. 

The President at once appointed John Jay of New York 
to be Chief Justice. The first Supreme Court case which 
attracted much notice was Chisholm vs. Georgia in 1793, in 
which the court gave a decision against the state. To prevent 
such suits against a state by citizens of another state or of a 
foreign country, the Eleventh Amendment was at once proposed, 
and speedily added to the Constitution. 

138. National Capital (1789-1790) 

The location of a permanent seat of government came up in 
1789 and raised a hot discussion between the northern and 
southern sections, both of which wanted the capital. The 
center of American social and political life was Philadelphia, 
seat of Congress during most of the Revolution. While the 
British were in Philadelphia, Congress sat in York, Lancaster, 
and Baltimore ; and after Congress was insulted in its own hall 
by mutinous soldiers in 1783, it sat in Princeton, Trenton, 
Annapolis, and New York, but did not select any of them as the 
permanent seat of government. In a debate on the subject, a 
Pennsylvania member spoke for Wright's Ferry (Columbia, 
Pa.), and praised the fish of the Susquehanna; but a Georgian 
member, who did not Uke to travel so far, retorted, "This . . . 



Alexander Hamilton 213 

will blow the coals of sedition and endanger the Union. . . . 
This looks like aristocracy." And a New England member 
said "he did not dare to go to the Potomac. He feared that 
the whole of New England would consider the Union as de- 
stroyed." 

When the matter came up again in 1790, it was tangled with 
a proposal that the federal government assume the outstand- 
ing state debts, which the southern members opposed and 
the New England members favored. Hamilton, as a northern 
man, appealed to Jefferson, over whose dining table an agree- 
ment was reached that the Virginia members would vote for 
assumption, if Hamilton would find the votes necessary to fix 
the capital on the Potomac ; and by this compromise (it would 
be called a "deal" nowadays) both measures were passed. 
Eighteen million dollars was distributed among the states, 
. to close up their debts ; and the capital was fixed for ten 
years at Philadelphia, and then in a district ten miles square 
to be selected by the President on the Potomac River. This 
was the origin of the District of Columbia. 

139. Alexander Hamilton (i 789-1 793) 

To Alexander Hamilton the present government of the 
United States owes almost as much as to Madison or to Wash- 
ington ; for he had the genius to think out methods of organizr 
ing the new national government. Hamilton was born in the 
island of Nevis in the West Indies (1757), and was educated at 
King's College, now Columbia University. When the Revolu- 
tion broke out, he began to write patriotic pamphlets, then 
joined the army, and attracted the notice of Washington, who 
never ceased to love and admire him. He sat in the Congress 
of the Confederation for a time (1782-1783), but a friend said 
of him that he was not "adapted to a council composed of dis- 
cordant materials, or to a people which have thirteen heads." 
He was a famous lawyer, but his genius was especially fitted to 
finance, and it was a national blessing when, in September, 



214 Applying the Constitution 

1789, at thirty-two years of age, he was appointed Secretary 
of the Treasury. 

It was a discouraging post. Hamilton found a debt of about 
$50,000,000 and no money in the treasury ; the accounts were 
in confusion ; the old paper-money notes were repudiated 

(§ 109), and few seemed 
to expect that the fed- 
eral government would 
ever pay its bonded 
debt. Hamilton pre- 
pared a series of finan- 
cial reports to Congress 
in which he laid down a 
system of national 
finance, which he pushed 
with such force and 
statesmanship that he 
induced Congress to 
accept every one of the 
following plans : 

(i) Import duties 
were to provide for the 
interest on the pubHc 
debt. (2) An excise on 
the manufacture of 
whisky would raise additional money and would make the western 
people understand that they had a government. (3) The debt of 
the United States was to be fully acknowledged, and the govern- 
ment was to assume the state debts, so as to interest the lenders 
in the success of the government. (4) A national bank was to 
perform the government business and furnish a safe currency. 

140. Public Aid to Business (i 789-1793) 

What was the main reason for framing and adopting 
the Constitution? Was it, as some people argue nowadays, 



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Public Aid to Business 215 

to protect the property of those who framed it and of their 
friends ? It is true that in the old Continental Congress, in 
the Federal Convention, in the state legislatures, and in 
later congresses, there were well-to-do members who owned 
government securities which were increased in value by the 
success of the new Constitution. It was the habit of the 
time to choose such men to public office. There was, how- 
ever, no moneyed class as we now understand it. In 17S9 
there were very few banks in the whole country and hardly 
any corporations except insurance companies. The only large 
business men were great merchants, who were also ship- 
owners. Very few men had money at interest, and those did 
not look upon themselves as separated from or opposed to 
the landowning farmers and the planters of the South. 

There was a general feeling throughout the country that a 
new Constitution was needed in order to give business an oppor- 
tunity to develop. This sentiment was shown in the settlement 
of the national debt, a difficult task, because many owners of 
certificates of that debt had bought them at a depreciation. 
Some members of Congress wanted to pay them at less than 
their face value. Hamilton insisted, and Congress agreed, that 
the actual legal holders of certificates ought to be paid in full 
because it was to the interest of the government to borrow 
money in such a way that its bonds or certificates would easily 
pass from hand to hand without anybody's trying to figure out 
whether only a portion of them would be paid. In a few months, 
the surprised holders of government bonds began for the first 
time to receive regular interest on their holdings ; and the result 
was that the certificates of the national debt quickly rose to par. 

Several manufacturers sent in petitions asking Congress 
to pass a protective tariff; Pennsylvanians were anxious to 
protect "our infant manufactures." On the other hand. South 
Carolinians thought that protection was "big with oppression." 
"Middle-of-the-road men" like Madison of Virginia were op- 
posed to protection as a system, but were willing to lay duties 



2i6 Applying the Constitution 

in order to encourage young industries and build up the manu- 
facture of military material. The outcome of these discussions 
was the passage of the first tariff act (July 4, 1789), which was 
before Hamilton came into office. It was intended to give a 
little protection, though the average rate of duty was only about 
8^ per cent — the lowest in our federal history. Later, at 
Hamilton's suggestion, the import duties were raised a little, 
and an " excise " — that is, a special tax on making liquor — 
was laid on whisky (March 3, 1791), amounting to 7 or 8 cents 
a gallon. 

The country greatly needed a permanent specie currency ; 
therefore, Congress passed an act (April 2, 1792) establishing 
a United States mint, to which any possessor of gold or 
silver could bring gold or silver buUion and have it coined into 
gold or silver pieces without charge except for the stamping. 
The act also established the ratio of fifteen to one between gold 
and silver; that is, $15 in gold coin was to weigh exactly as 
much as $1 in silver. 

Vessel owners also asked for protection through a ton- 
nage tax which should be higher on foreign than on American 
shipping. Hence Congress used the commercial power which 
it received under the third compromise of the Constitution 
(§ 119) by passing such a discriminating act. Some years 
later, all foreign vessels were excluded from the coasting trade 
between American ports. 

As a result of these acts and of the prospect that the Union 
would continue, exports and imports at once began to increase, 
but for some years the growth was very irregular. 

141. The National Bank (1791) 

The greatest boon for business men, perhaps, was the Bank 
of the United States, which was chartered by Congress (Febru- 
ary 25, 1791) and which Hamilton looked upon as the crown 
of his whole system. At this time there were only three state 
banks, and the purpose of the act was to bring the banking 



The National Bank 217 

business chiefly under the control of the United States govern- 
ment, which took one fifth of the stock. The capital of 
$10,000,000 was quickly subscribed and was as important in 
the conditions of that time as a bank would be to-day with a 
capital of $1,000,000,000. 

The services which the bank was expected to perform for 
business men were as follows: (i) to receive and hold deposits 
of individuals ; (2) to have the custody of most of the govern- 
ment balances; (3) to make loans to business men out of its 
capital and deposits ; (4) to make exchanges for individuals 
and the government by receiving money at one place and pay- 
ing it out at another ; (5) to issue paper notes, holding a re- 
serve of gold and silver so as to redeem on demand any that 
might be presented. The chief object of the bank was even 
deeper than these great services. Hamilton wanted the business 
men of the country to feel that their welfare and prosperity 
would be aided by a great banking corporation chartered by 
the federal government. 

Upon this question rose the first of many debates on the 
powers of Congress under the Constitution. There was no 
direct statement in that document on banks or corporations, 
but Hamilton argued that the framers of the Constitution, by 
giving Congress power to pass acts that are "necessary and 
proper for carrying into execution the . . . powers vested by 
this Constitution in the government of the United States," ex- 
pected that such acts as that for the bank would be passed. 
Jefferson took the line of argument to which the term "strict 
construction" is often applied; viz., that the bank could not be 
constitutional, because the Constitution gave no express power to 
charter a corporation, and that a bank was not "necessary and 
proper," since all the services which it might perform for the 
government could be secured in some other way. Hamilton, 
arguing from "loose construction," insisted that Congress had 
the "implied power" to carry out any of its expressed powers 
through a corporation, if that would do the work better; and 



2i8 Applying the Constitution 

that "necessary and proper" did not mean "indispensable," 
but "suitable." 

All the northern votes in Congress, except one, were in favor 
of the act. Washington signed it, and twenty-eight years later 
the Supreme Court adopted Hamilton's doctrine of implied 
powers, and it is now constantly used in thi legislation of Con- 
gress. The bank was at once organized, ^Aith a head oflfice in 
Philadelphia and eight branches in other cities, and proved a 
safe and prosperous concern. Yet the debates brought out 
the division of the people of the United States into two ways 
of thought — for and against a vigorous active national gov- 
ernment. The first appearance of national parties can be 
traced back to this discussion. 

142. Growth of the West (i 789-1801) 

The first enlargement of the Union was by the admission of 
Vermont, a New England frontier community, as the 14th 
state in 1 791. In the following year the western territory of 
Virginia, with her consent, was admitted as the state of Ken- 
tucky (15th. state). 

All the old questions about the right of Congress to establish 
territories in the West and to regulate the settlers and the In- 
dians were now at an end, for Congress quickly began to use its 
new powers over territories and over Indian trade and tribes. 
The settlers were warned not to go into the regions occupied by 
the Indians ; on the other hand, the Indians were induced to 
cede certain lands to accommodate white settlers. Neverthe- 
less, an Indian war burst out in the Northwest Territory and 
two small armies under General Harmar and General St. Clair 
were defeated by the Indians. 

Washington's private secretary has recorded the President's 
emotion at the news of St. Clair's defeat (1791). "And yet, 
to suffer that army to be cut to pieces, hacked, butchered, 
tomahawked by a surprise — the very thing I guarded him 
againsti O God, O God, he is worse than a murderer!" "But," 



Beginning of Political Parties 219 

he added, recovering himself, "General St. Clair shall have 
justice!" Anthony Wayne, who was now put in command, 
built frontier posts, thoroughly thrashed the Indians, and made 
possible the treaty of Greenville (1795), by which the Indians 
gave up the territory now composing southern and eastern Ohio. 

The Southwest grew rapidly. South of Kentucky, Congress 
set up the "Territory South of the Ohio River" in 1790; and 
six years later that region came into the Union under the 
name of Tennessee (i6th state). Still farther south the 
controversy over the western claims of Georgia continued ; 
but Congress created the Mississippi Territory out of a part of 
the disputed land (1798), and four years later Georgia ceded 
everything west of her present boundary, and the long contro- 
versy as to western lands was ended (§ 105). 

Meanwhile settlers were pouring into the Northwest Terri- 
tory. Virginia opened up her nsserve of Military Bounty 
Lands north of the Ohio. Then followed new communities 
near Chillicothe on the Scioto, and at Losantiville, now called 
Cincinnati. Along Lake Erie settlement began about 1795, 
when Connecticut sold the greater part of the Western Reserve 
to the Connecticut Land Company. General Moses Cleave- 
land, agent of the company, in 1796 founded at the mouth of 
the Cuyahoga, on Lake Erie, the city now called Cleveland, 
for the founder. Next year the "Girdled Road" was made 
from the Pennsylvania line along the lake to Cleveland. In 
1800 the state of Connecticut ceded to the United States all 
jurisdiction over the Reserve, so that the lake and river settle- 
ments might be united into a new state. Indiana Territory 
was immediately set off, and in 1802 the people of Ohio were 
authorized to form a state government, and were duly admitted 
to the. Union the next year (17th state). 

143. Beginning of Political Parties (1792) 

Till about 1793 there were no national political parties, for 
the Anti-Federalists disappeared soon after the Constitution was 



220 Applying the Constitution 

adopted, and hardly a man in the country any longer criticized 
the Constitution. The first division on living issues came 
about in meetings of the Cabinet, where Jefferson says that 
he and Hamilton from day to day attacked each other " like 
cocks in a pit." The two men and their followers absolutely 
disagreed on the cardinal questions of the nature of govern- 
ment. Hamilton and his friends believed that the opinion of 
the educated and property-holding classes must always be the 
best for the ignorant and the poor. He is said to have remarked 
once at a dinner: "Your people, your people, sir, is a great 
beast." The other side was represented by Jefferson, who 
counted himself among "those who identify themselves with 
the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them 
as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise deposi- 
tory of the public interest." 

Hamilton and his friends believed further that it was the 
duty of government to encourage private enterprise, and to 
that end laid down their principle of "loose construction" 
(§ 141). Jefferson's theory of "strict construction" of the 
Constitution was that government ought to do as little as pos- 
sible, that it ought to lay taxes only for absolutely necessary 
expenses, and that the development of the country ought to 
be left to individuals. 

On almost the same day (in May, 1792) Hamilton wrote that 
Madison and Jefferson were at the head of a "faction decidedly 
hostile to me, . . . and dangerous to the Union, peace and 
prosperity of the country"; and Jefferson described Hamilton 
and his friends as "monarchical federalists." In the election 
of 1792, though there was not a vote against Washington, there 
was a strong and almost successful attempt to displace Adams 
as Vice President ; and thenceforth one body of men throughout 
the country took on the party name of Federalists, and the 
Jeffersonians called themselves Republicans.'^ 

^This first Republican or Democratic-Republican party is not to be 
confused with the new party of the same name organized in 1854. 



Review 221 

144. Review 

The new government was organized in 1789 and George 
Washington was the first President. Under the Constitution 
he appointed heads to the new executive departments which 
were created by Congress, and also the judges of the new federal 
courts. He invited the heads of the four principal departments 
to consult with him, and that is the foundation of the so-called 
Cabinet. Congress also organized the courts, and submitted 
to the state legislatures eleven constitutional amendments which 
were adopted. The first ten made a kind of bill of rights. 

The first sharp division of opinion in Congress was over 
the national capital, which was finally placed on the Potomac 
River. To secure this result certain members of Congress agreed 
to vote for the assumption of the outstanding state public debts. 
In this transaction and in other great statutes for setting the 
government in motion, the leader was Alexander Hamilton, 
the Secretary of the Treasury. He induced Congress to fund the 
national debt in full ; he urged a protective tariff which was. 
passed ; and he secured an excise on liquors. Hamilton's great- 
est triumph was the charter of a national bank (1791) in which 
the United States government was a stockholder. That raised 
the question of whether Congress had "implied powers" bear- 
ing upon matters not expressly mentioned in the Constitution. 

Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee were admitted into the 
Union. The western claims of North CaroUna and Georgia 
were ceded ; Connecticut also ceded control over the so-called 
Western Reserve, and then Ohio was admitted (1803). 

After 1793, two political parties appeared, the Federalist and 
the Republican, headed by Alexander Hamilton and Thomas 
Jefferson, and this division spread throughout the Union. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 176, 242. Johnson, Union and 
Democracy, 59. — Sample, Geogr. Conditions, 75-92. 



222 Applying the Constitution 

Secondary. Bassett, Federalist System, chs. i, iii. — Dewey, Finan- 
cial Hist., §§ 34-52. — Ford, True George Washington. — Foster, Cen- 
tury of Diplomacy, 103-135. ^ Gordy, Polit. Parties, I. 103-158. — 
Hinsdale, Old Northwest, 296-313, 368-388. — Hunt, James Madison, 
167-212. — Johnson, Union and Democracy, ch. iii. — Lodge, George 
Washington, H. chs. ii, iii, vii ; Alexander Hamilton, chs. v, vi. — Mc- 
Dougall, Fugitive Slaves, §§ 16-19. — ^ McMaster, U.S., I. 525-604, II. 
«'4~S7) 67-89, 144-154, III. 116-123. — Morse, Thomas Jejferson, chs. 
■-'iii, ix. — Roosevelt, Winning of the West, IV. i-ioo. — Schouler, U.S., 
I. 70-220. — Stanwood, Presidency, I. chs. ii, iii. — Treat, Land System, 
ch. iv. — Walker, Making of the Nation, 73-114. — Winsor, Westward 
Movement, 375-574. 

Sources. Ames, State Docs, on Fed. Rels. 1-15. — Bogart and 
Thompson, Readings, 485-490. — -Hart, Contemporaries, III. §§ 76-89; 
Patriots and Statesmen, II. 363-367, 372-378, 381-383. — Johnson, 
Readings, §§ 46-67. — MacDonald, Select Docs., nos. 6-12. — -Maclay, 
Journal. — Old South Leaflets, nos. 10, 74. — See New Engl. Hist. 
Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, § 80; Syllabus, 334-336. 

Illustrative. Allen, Choir Invisible (Ky.). — Cooper, Pioneers. — 
Hale, East and West (N. W. Terr.). — Paulding, Westward Ho! (Ky.). 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., VII. — Wilson, Am. People, III. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Washington's journey from Virginia to New York. [§ 136] — 
(2) John Jay as Chief Justice. [§ 137] — ■ (3) The first ten constitutional 
amendments. [§ 137] — (4) The Eleventh Amendment. [§ 137] — 
(5) Laying out of the city of Washington. [§ 138] — ■ (6) Alexander 
Hamilton as a young man. [§ 139] — (7) Admission of one of the follow- 
ing states : Vermont; Kentucky; Tennessee; Ohio. [§ 142] — (8) Ac- 
count of Indiana Territory. [§ 142] 

Topics for Further Search 

(9) Early cabinet meetings. [§ 136] — (10) Was the Constitution 
made by capitalists? [§ 140] — (11) Early arguments for, or against, 
a protective tariff. [§ 140] — (12) Early arguments for, or against, 
a national bank. [§ 141] — (13) Account of the Indian wars on the 
northwest frontier. [§ 142] — (14) Early settlements on the south shore 
of Lake Erie. [§ 142] — (15) What Jefferson and Hamilton thought 
about each other. [§ 143] 



CHAPTER XIII 

BEGINNING OF PARTY POLITICS (i 793-1801) 

145. Relations with France (i 789-1 793) 

The Federalist leaders had to deal not only with the great 
problem of organizing a system of government and business 
that would serve the needs of the nation, but also with diffi- 
cult and dangerous relations toward foreign nations. Before 
the new system was fairly in operation, the great French Revo- 
lution of 1789 broke out. In 1792 France was declared a repub- 
lic ; soon after. King Louis XVI was executed by his people 
and the French republic declared war against Great Britain and 
Spain. The national sympathy of America went out to France 
as a friend, ally, and sister republic, apparently struggling 
against tyranny. Furthermore, by the treaty of 1778 the 
United States was bound to defend the French West Indies in 
case of ''defensive war." Since the British had recently been 
enemies, and were still on bad terms with the United States, 
the French government expected that the United States would 
directly, or by secret aid, join in the war against Great Britain 
and Spain ; and they sent over a new ambassador, Edmond 
Genet, to bring about that result. 

When the news of the outbreak of war was received in Amer- 
ica, Congress was not in session, and President Washington 
decided quickly that the country was in no condition for war. 
Even Jefferson, whom Hamilton accused of "a womanish 
attachment for France and a womanish resentment against 
England," reluctantly admitted that the treaty of 1778 could 
not be justly applied to the changed conditions of the time. 

323 



224 Beginning of Party Politics 

The President accordingly (April 22, 1793) issued what is 
usually called the " Proclamation of Neutrahty," a declaration 
that the United States would "pursue a conduct friendly and 
impartial towards the belhgerent powers." This was clear 
evidence that the United States would not take sides in the 
war. Genet had already landed in Charleston (April 8, 1793), 
and began to issue privateering commissions to Americans and 
to enlist them for the French service. He was received in Phila- 
delphia with enthusiasm, and the friends of France — chiefly 
Republicans — formed " Democratic clubs " on the model of the 
French revolutionary clubs. Genet at first accepted the Procla- 
mation of Neutrality, but he did not scruple to enlist men in 
the West for an expedition to capture New Orleans from the 
Spanish, a plan which pleased the Kentuckians. Then he lost 
his judgment, and in his violence and fury overreached himself : 
he fitted out a cruiser, the Petit Democrat, in Philadelphia, and, 
in defiance of Jefferson's protest, sent her to sea. He lost 
standing further by trying to force Washington to call an 
extra session of Congress. In December, 1793, his own 
government was weary of him, and sent a recall. 

146. Neutral Trade and Impressments (i 793-1 794) 

The naval war involved all the principal European maritime 
nations : Dutch, Spanish, French, and British merchantmen 
were chased on every sea. The United States unexpectedly 
became the principal neutral, but Great Britain quickly showed 
unwelcome views as to the rights of neutrals ; and since there 
was no commercial treaty between the two countries, they 
fell back on uncertain and disputed principles of international 
law : 

(i) The United States admitted that neutral ships could be 
captured anywhere on the sea if bound to a port actually 
blockaded by men of war ; but the British claimed the same right 
of capture on a "paper blockade " ; that is, a mere notice, not 
backed up by a blockading fleet. 



Neutral Trade and Impressments 225 

(2) The United States admitted the right to capture ships 
having on board "contraband," meaning miHtary stores des- 
tined for an enemy; but the British claimed that provisions 
were also contraband, and therefore seized American food 
ships bound to French ports. 

(3) The United States insisted that "free ships make free 
goods" ; that is, that an American ship was not subject to 
capture simply because it had the property of French subjects 
on board. The British took such ships wherever they could 
find them. 

(4) Great Britain, under what was called the "Rule of 1756," 
proceeded to capture American vessels carrying cargoes from 
French colonies to American ports, because such trade had not 
been allowed by France in time of peace. 

Forthwith scores of American ships were taken as prizes 
by British cruisers and privateers. So far as they had oppor- 
tunity, the French were as violent as the English ; they seized 
provision ships and British goods in American ships. 

The trouble was aggravated by the method of recruiting for 
British ships of war by "impressing" (seizing) sailors on shore, 
or from British merchant ships. Under the theory that a man 
born in England remained an Englishman as long as he lived, 
the British freely extended their impressment to persons under 
the protection of the United States: (i) to English sailors 
employed in American ships ; (2) to Englishmen born, who were 
naturalized in the United States ; (3) sometimes to Englishmen 
born who were American citizens before the treaty of peace; 
(4) frequently to American sailors born in America, and no 
more subject to Great Britain than to China. 

For this and other outrages, Congress in April, 1794, was on 
the point of declaring war against Great Britain, but once more 
Washington's calm good sense saved the country from a great 
danger. He nominated John Jay, then Chief Justice of the 
United States, as special envoy to make a last remonstrance 
to Great Britain. 

hart's new amer. hist, — IS 



2 26 Beginning of Party Politics 

147/ Peace with Great Britain and Spain (i 794-1 795) 

After nearly four months' negotiation, Jay signed a treaty in 
London (November 19, 1794) which was intended to settle all 
but one of the four controversies then outstanding : 

(i) The British agreed to carry out the treaty of 1783, by 
evacuating the undisputed American territory (§110); but 
then and thereafter they would make no compensation for 
slaves carried away in 1783. On the other hand, the United 
States undertook to make compensation to British merchants 
who had not been able to collect debts due in 1775; later a 
lump sum of about $3,000,000 was paid by the United States 
on that score. The loyalist question was dropped, and never 
revived. 

(2) For the capture of American vessels, the British govern- 
ment agreed to make a compensation, if a commission of arbi- 
tration so decided; and eventually paid about $1,000,000. 
Jay gave up the principle that "free ships make free goods" 
(§ 146), and agreed that provisions under some circumstances 
might be held contraband. 

(3) A commercial treaty to last a term of years was nego- 
tiated; but the British, who in 1783 had limited the trade be- 
tween the United States and the West Indies to British ships 
(§ no), refused to open it to American ships. 

(4) On impressment, Jay could get no agreement. 

In general, the Jay treaty did not satisfy the shipowners 
and commercial people, and all the weight of Washington's 
influence was necessary to induce the Senate to ratify it by the 
bare two-thirds majority of 20 to 10. The House at first showed 
a strong inclination to refuse the appropriation necessary to 
carry out the treaty, but voted the money at last ; and war with 
Great Britain was thus averted. 

Meanwhile a very favorable settlement was made with Spain 
by a treaty of 1795, which gave us : (i) some desired commercial 
arrangements ; (2) the still more desired navigation of the Mis- 



Retirement ot Washington 227 

sissippi ; (3) an acknowledgment of the southern boundary as 
laid down by the British treaty of 1783. 

148. Whisky Insurrection (1794) 

While Jay was negotiating his treaty, trouble broke out in 
western Pennsylvania, where the national "excise" duties on 
the manufacture of liquors, though low, were felt by the many 
small distillers. Discontent arose till several hundred armed 
men attacked the house of Inspector General Neville, and it 
was plundered and burned (1794). The mail from Pittsburgh 
eastward was robbed, and about seven thousand men assembled 
at Braddock's Field and marched to Pittsburgh to intimidate 
the town. 

Since Governor Mifflin of Pennsylvania would not act, 
Washington disregarded him and called out thirteen thousand 
militia from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Vir- 
ginia. In October the little army crossed the mountains and 
came down into the western counties, but found not an insur- 
rectionist in arms, for most of the people who were wanted had 
decamped. Two men were later found guilty of treason by 
the courts for their share in the rising and were sentenced to 
death, but were pardoned by the President. In his messages 
to Congress, Washington stated that the rebellion was due to 
"certain combinations of men," or, as the Senate put it, to "self- 
created societies"; that is, to the Democratic clubs founded 
in 1793. The criticism went home; and Jefferson and his 
friends — though they had no part in instigating the rebellion 
■ — soon thought it desirable to employ a party name which had 
not such associations with France, and began again to call 
themselves Republicans. 

149. RETIRE14ENT OF Washington (1796-1797) 

Throughout this difficult period, George Washington was 
the most clear-headed and unyielding friend of good national 
government. As President he showed a remarkable power to 



228 Beginning of Party Politics 

judge and select men. It was a great trial to Washington that 
after 1792 the newspapers began to abuse him, and even his 
friend Jefferson wrote a letter criticizing him, to a foreign corre- 
spondent named Mazzei, which found its way into print. Jeffer- 
son tells us that one day at a cabinet meeting the President 
vehemently declared "that he had never repented but once the 
- having slipped the moment of resigning his office, and that was 
every moment since, that ... he had rather be on his farm 
than to be made emperor of the world, and yet that they were 
charging him with wanting to be a king! '' 

In his celebrated farewell address of September 17, 1796 
(composed in part by Hamilton, but full of Washington's 
principles), Washington rose to the highest patriotism and 
statesmanship. He urged union of the North and South, 
union of the East and West, a union which would be in 
danger if the United States took sides with either party in the 
European wars. Hence he advised his countrymen to keep 
out of "permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign 
world." 

As Washington expected to retire to private life, the two 
political parties each tried to elect his successor in the presiden- 
tial election of 1796; and by the close electoral vote of 71 to 
68, Vice President Adams was elected President. The Feder- 
alists did not unite on any one candidate for Vice President ; 
and the rival candidate for President, Thomas Jefferson, was 
elected to the lower oflfice. 

150. President John Adams (1797-1801) 

John Adams of Massachusetts was one of the two or three 
men most responsible for the Revolution. He served in the 
two Continental Congresses, then was minister to France and 
to Holland, and was one of the commissioners of the Treaty of 
Paris (1782). In 1785 he was sent as the first American minis- 
ter to Great Britain, and when the king laughingly hinted that 
Adams was no friend to France, he replied aptly, "That opin- 



The X. Y. Z. Controversy 229 

ion, sir, is not mistaken ; I must avow to your Majesty, I have 
no attachment but to my own country." 

After eight years' service as Vice President, Adams became 
President in 1797; and he made the mistake of adopting his 
predecessor's Cabinet, which felt itself superior to its chief and 
which took counsel with his personal enemy Hamilton. Adams 
finally dismissed Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State ; after that 
he had some peace and comfort in Cabinet meetings. During 
his term the government 



moved to the new capital 
at Washington, and Adan-s 
was the first President to 
occupy the White House. 
In getting out of trouble 
with Great Britain, the 
United States was plunged 
a second time into difificulty 
with the French, who felt 
the bitterest resentment 
over the Jay treaty, because 
it gave to Great Britain 
privileges which were 
denied to France. In re- 
taliation, the French in 1 796 
again began to seize Ameri 




John Adams, 1783. (In court dress ; 
from the portrait by Copley.) 



can vessels; and when Charles C. Pinckney arrived in Paris with 
a commission as minister, he was warned to leave France. In a 
message on this insult (May 16, 1797) Adams said, "Such at- 
tempts ought to be repelled with a decision which shall convince 
France and the world that we are not a degraded people, humil- 
iated under a colonial spirit of fear and sense of inferiority." 

151. The X. Y. Z. Controversy (i 797-1 798) 
Still Adams could not bear to see his country drawn into war 
if he could help it, and he therefore commissioned Pinckney, 



230 Beginning of Party Politics 

John Marshall of Virginia (two Feclerahsts), and Elbridge 
Gerry of Massachusetts (a Republican) to make a last 
etfort to come to an understanding with France. After some 
months, dispatches arrived, stating that the French govern- 
ment, incensed at Adams's message, refused officially to receive 
the commissioners ; and that three men, called in the dispatches 
"X., Y., and Z.," came unofhcially to inform them that if 
they wanted a treaty, they must furnish a quarter of a million 
dollars "for the pocket of the Directory and ministers." When 
Mr. X. said plainly to the envoys, " Gentlemen, you do not speak 
to the point ; it is money : it is expected that you will offer 
money," they responded firmly, "No, no, no; not a sixpence." 
And the President thereon notified Congress (June 27, 1798), 
"I will never send another minister to France without assurances 
that he will be received, respected, and honored as becomes the 
representative of a great, free, powerful, and independent 
nation." 

152. Alien and Sedition Acts, and State Sovereignty 
( 1 798-1800) 

Adams's protest at the shameful attempt to exact bribes from 
American ministers raised him to the highest popularity of 
his whole life. Songs were written in his honor, among them 
Hopkinson's Hail Columbia. The Republicans were so stunned 
by the behavior of France that they could not stop four sweep- 
ing pieces of anti-French legislation by Congress in 1708, 
commonly called the "Alien and Sedition Acts": (i) a Natu- 
ralization Act raising the required term of residence to fourteen 
years ; (2) the AHen Friends Act, authorizing the President 
to expel aliens in time oi peace ; (3) the Alien Enemies Act, 
for the expulsion of aliens (by which was meant Frenchmen) in 
time of war ; (4) the Sedition Act, maHng it a crime to pubHsh 
libels against the government, or Congress, or the President. 
The Sedition Act was passed because the Republican pro-French 
newspaper press was violent and abusive ; as an example the 



French Naval War 231 

Federalists quoted from the Aurora, which they thought to be 
an organ of Jefferson, an article that called Adams "a person 
without patriotism, without philosophy, without a taste for the 
fine arts — a mock monarch." 

The problem of the Republicans was how they could get rid 
of these offensive and partisan statutes ; and their solution was 
to accuse the Federalist Congress of exercising powers which 
really belonged to the states. This led to the first pubUc argu- 
ments that the states were not necessarily bound by acts of 
Congress. Late in 1798 the "Virginia and Kentucky Resolu- 
tions" were passed by the legislatures of those states. They 
attacked the Alien and Sedition Acts as being contrary to the 
superior force of the Constitution and held that they were "not 
law but utterly void and of no force." 

The Virginia Resolution was drawn up by Madison ; and, 
though it was not known till afterwards, Jefferson framed the 
Kentucky Resolution and also a second and stronger Kentucky 
Resolution a year later. This second resolution contained the 
dangerous declaration that "nullification by those sovereignties 
[the states] of all unauthorized acts done under that instru- 
ment [the federal Constitution] is the rightful remedy." These 
resolutions, which were really a kind of political platform, 
attracted great attention throughout the country; and the 
consequent popular criticism of the Alien and Sedition Acts 
in the end caused the defeat of the Federalist party. 

This contest brought out clearly for the first time the States 
Rights theory of the government which appeared again in 
later times. According to this doctrine the states were 
sovereign from the beginning of the Rev^olution and remained 
sovereign after the Constitution went into force. 

153. French Naval War (i 798-1 800) 

After the X. Y. Z. affair, there seemed nothing for it but 
war with France. In 1798 Congress declared the treaties of 
1778 at an end, and began to add to the little fleet; and the 



232 Beginning of Party Politics 

Navy Department was organized, with a Secretary. Congress 
could not quite bring itself to declare war ; but it did authorize 
the capture of French cruisers and, under some circumstances, 

of merchantmen, by 
warships and by 
American privateers, 
of which 365 were 
commissioned in a 
single year. The 
American frigate Con- 
stellation captured the 
French frigate Insur- 
gente, and the Boston 
took the French cor- 
vette Berceau. 

Just at this time. 
Napoleon Bonaparte 
rose to supreme power 
in France ; and he saw 
no object in fighting 
America. Indirectly 
he sent word that he 
was willing to make 
peace, and Adams, 
against the advice of 
his party friends and his Cabinet, in 1799 directed negotiations 
resulting in a treaty of peace (September 30, 1800), which for a 
time safeguarded American neutral trade. 

154. Election of Jefferson (1800-1801) 

The death of Washington, in 1799, took away the balance 
wheel of American poHtics, for Adams offended his party asso- 
ciates and never had any hold on the Republicans. Several 
prosecutions of Republican journalists under the Sedition Act 
were unfairly pressed ; and such a protest was made that th? 



1 


m 


■ "' '^.^Oe;- -^^s^^^^^H 




fl 


A'.W^M 



Napoleon Bonaparte. (From the 
painting by Delaroche.) 



I 



Review 233 

Federalists were startled at their own work. Meanwhile the 
Federalist journals were allowed to indulge in publications 
which were at least as scurrilous as those of their opponents. 

As the time drew on for the presidential election of 1800, a 
long-standing feud between Hamilton and Adams came to the 
surface, but Hamilton could not prevent his rival from again 
receiving the Federalist nomination. Jefferson, the candidate 
of the Republicans, was supported by Aaron Burr, of New York, 
who was nominated for Vice President ; and that state changed 
over from the Federalist column. The result was that the 
Republican candidates got 73 electoral votes and Adams got 
only 65. John Adams and his party were defeated. 

Every Republican elector voted both for Jefferson and for 
Burr, so that there was a technical tie. As the Constitution 
then stood, the House had the power to select between these 
two men, each state delegation casting one vote. The Feder- 
alists had the majority by states, and, in the face of the inten- 
tion of the Republican voters to make Jefferson President, many 
of the Federalists voted for Burr, and came near electing him. 
Jefferson and his friends were furious, and even Hamilton 
advised his friends to vote for Jefferson, who in the end was 
chosen (February 17, 1801) by 10 states to 4. The Federalists 
looked on the success of Jefferson as the undoing of all their 
efforts to establish a firm government; and their conduct left 
in Jefferson's mind a strong feeling of injury. This dangerous 
crisis, in which the will of the people was almost set aside through 
an imperfection in the Constitution, led to the proposal of the 
Twelfth Amendment (ratified September, 1804) under which 
the President and Vice President are voted for separately. 

155. Review 

Party divisions in the United States were much affected by 
the outbreak of war in Europe, in which France and Great 
Britain were the leading powers (1793). In the course of the 
French Revolution of 1789 France became a republic. The 



234 Beginning of Party Politics 

President issued a proclamation of neutrality, which was a deci- 
sion that the United States would not take part in the war with 
either side ; and the French minister, Genet, did his best to de- 
stroy that policy. 

Great Britain on its side began to seize American neutral mer- 
chant ships on various pretexts which were denied by the 
United States, and came near bringing on war, but peace was 
kept by the Jay treaty (1794), which included a commercial 
agreement with Great Britain. The Spanish government also 
made a treaty giving us the use of the lower Mississippi (1795). 

Meantime the people of western Pennsylvania were incensed 
by the collection of the excise on the manufacture of liquor, and 
in the bloodless Whisky Insurrection (1794) tested the power of 
the government to defend itself. 

President Washington retired in 1797 after publishing a pa- 
triotic farewell address. John Adams, who succeeded as Presi- 
dent, was not a tactful or discreet man ; but he stood for the 
rights of his country when assailed by France in the X. Y. Z. 
controversy (1797). The Federalist Congress, however, passed 
the Ahen and Sedition Acts of 1 79S. The legislatures of Virginia 




White House, Washington. (Begun, 1792; occupied by Adams, 1800; 
burned, 1814; rebuilt, 1818; restored, 1903.) 



References 235 

and Kentucky retorted with resolutions which called the at- 
tention of the country to the principle of state sovereignty. 
The United States drifted into a brief and eventless naval war 
with France ; but Napoleon Bonaparte, as head of the French 
nation, made peace in 1800. Shortly after, Thomas Jefferson 
was elected President against Adams ; and after a struggle to 
overcome the technicahties of the method of choosing the Presi- 
dent, he duly took office and the Republicans thus came to power 
for the first time. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. Avery, U.S., VII. — Bassett, Federalist 
System, 58, 70, 168, 176, 290. — Shepherd, //^f^/. Atlas, 196. 

Secondary. Allen, Naval War with France. — Bassett, Federalist 
System, chs. iv-ix, xiv-xix. — Conant, Ale. x. Hamilton, 100-135. — " Fish, 
Am. Diplomacy, chs. viii-xi ; Am. Nationality, 56-85. — Gordy, Polit. 
Parties, I. 159-382. — Hart, Formation of the Union, §§83-92. — ■ 
Hunt, James Madison, 213-270. — Johnson, Union and Democracy, 
chs. iv-vi. — -Lodge, Ale.\\ Hamilton, chs. vii-ix; George Washington, 
II. chs. iv-vi. — McMaster, U.S., II. 89-144, 165-537. — Maclay, 
U.S. Navy, I. 155-213. — Mahan, Sea Power in Rel. to War of 1S12, I. 
68-99. — Morse, Thos. Jefferson, chs. x-xii ; John Adams, 251-318. — 
Roosevelt, Winning of the West, IV. 101-257; Gouverneur Morris, ch. 
X. — Schouler, U.S., I. 238-314. — Stanwood, Presidency, I. chs. iv, 
V. — Stevens, Albert Gallatin, chs. iv, v. — ^ Wilson, Am. People, III. 
128-163. — Woodburn, Polit. Parties, ch. ii. 

' Sources. Atn. Hist. Leaflets, no. 15. — Ames, State Docs, on Fed. 
Relations, 15-26. — -Harding, Select Orations, nos. 10, 11. — Hart, 
Contemporaries, III. §§90-105; Patriots and Statestnen, III. 15-31, 
34-67, 72-85 ; Source Book, §§ 74-77. — Hill, Liberty Docs., ch. xviii. — 
James, Readings, §§ 47-51. — Johnson, Readings, §§ 68-70. — John- 
ston, Am. Orations, I. 84-143. — MacDonald, Select Docs., nos. 13-23. — 
Old South Leaflets, nos. 4, 38, 103. — Univ. of Pa., Translations and 
Reprints, VI. no. 2. — See New Engl. Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. 
Sources, § 80; Syllabus, 336, 337. 

Illustrative. Brackenridge, Modern Chivalry (Whisky Rebellion). — 
Cooper, Miles Wallingford. — Eggleston, Am. War Ballads, I. 102-112. 
— Goodloe, Calvert of Strathore (France). — Mitchell, Red City. — 
Seawell, Little Jarvis (French War). 

Pictures. Avery, U.S., VII. — Wilson, Am. People, III. 



236 Beginning of Party Politics 



Topics Answerable from References Above 

(i) The Proclamation of Neulrality. [§ 145] — (2) Incidents of 
Genet's mission. [§ 145] ^ (3) Incidents of the capture of American 
ships by the British, or by the French. [§ 146] — (4) Incidents of 
impressment of American seamen. [§ 146] ^ (5) Jay's experiences in 
London. [§ 147] — (6) Incidents of the Whisky Insurrection. [§ 148] — 
(7) Abuse of President Washington by the press. [§ 149] — (8) John 
Adams as Vice President. [§ 150] — (9) Why did John Adams quarrel 
with his Cabinet? [§ 150] — (10) Incidents of the naval war with 
France. [§ 153] 

Topics for Further Search 

(11) Why was there a French Revolution? [§ 145] — (12) Why did 
Washington retire from the presidency? [§ 149] — - (13) Who were 
X., Y., and Z.? [§ 151] — (14) Objections to the Alien Friends Act, 
or to the Sedition Act. [§ 152] — (15) Interest of Napoleon Bonaparte 
in the United States. [§ 153] — (16) Aaron Burr as a politician. [§ 154] 
— (17) Account of the Twelfth Amendment. [§ 154] 



CHAPTER XIV 



EXPANSION OF THE REPUBLIC (1801-1809) 
156. Thomas Jefferson and his Democracy 

The history of the United States from 1801 to 1S09 might be 
grouped about the life of the President, Thomas Jefferson ; 
the people liked him 
and Congress followed 
him. Born in 1743, 
the son of a Virgini;i 
planter, a graduate 
of William and Mary 
College, owner of land 
and slaves, Jefferson 
nevertheless had a 
Yankee love of novelty . 
an interest in all sorts 
of farm machinery, 
sciences, and discov- 
eries. A visitor said 
of him that he w^as "at 
once a musician, skilled 
in drawing, a geome- 
trician, an astronomer, 
a natural philosopher, 
and statesman." In 




Thomas Jefferson, about 1800. 
the portrait by Stuart.) 



(From 



public service he had a wonderful career. He was a member of 
the Virginia Assembly at twenty-six years of age, then of the 
Continental Congress, then governor of Virginia (i 779-1 781), 

2^7 



238 Expansion of the Republic 

then two years a member of the Congress of the Confederation, 
then ambassador to France for five years, then Secretary of 
State (1790-1793), then Vice President (1797-1801). 

This highly aristocratic and intellectual gentleman preached 
extreme doctrines of political equality and popular government. 
As President he insisted on what he called "republican sim- 
plicity" in the White House and in public intercourse. Hence 
he began the practice of making all presidential communications 
to Congress in written messages, instead of formal addresses to 
Congress in person. He was a strong advocate of local gov- 
ernment on the New England town-meeting plan, and of public 
education. All his theories of government were founded on 
confidence in the average man ; he opposed the use of force 
even to keep public order. Jefferson was never a good speaker 
and dishked appearing in public ; yet no man of his time had 
such influence over the people. He found his principle of 
political equality in the minds of his countrymen; he stated 
it and made it familiar. In the end it led to the granting of 
manhood suffrage regardless of ownership of property, pay- 
ment of taxes, or religious belief. 

One of Jefferson's favorite beliefs was that governments 
ought to do as httle as possible. Hence, as soon as he became 
President, he began to cut down the small army and navy, 
and to reduce the national debt. In this policy he had the 
aid of his Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin of Penn- 
sylvania, a Genevan by birth, a member of Congress from 
1795 to 1801, where he was a powerful critic of Hamilton's 
finance, and an able and honest statesman. Gallatin at once 
set to work to extinguish the national debt, a task which 
Jefferson said was "vital to the destinies of our government." 
In 1801 it stood at $83,000,000, but it was brought down in 
181 2 to $45,000,000. 

Jefferson's love of peace was sorely tried by the pirates of 
Morocco, Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis, who captured vessels and 
enslaved the crews. Like most nations, the United States paid 



The Officeholders 239 

an annual tribute to these ruffians ; but the more the pirates 
got, the moce dissatisfied they were. The pasha of Tripoh said, 
"We are aU hungry and if we are not provided for, we soon get 
sick and peevish." Jefferson had to use the navy when TripoH 
declared war on the United States. From 1801 to 1805 Ameri- 
can squadrons fought the Tripolitan pirates till the pasha 
gave in. Decatur, Bainbridge, and other naval commanders 
rendered good service. Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco yielded 
without serious fighting. A little tribute was paid by the United 
States to these piratical states till 1815. 

157. The Officeholders (1S01-1805) 

Jefferson's party friends put great pressure on him to follow 
the practice usual in the politics of New York, Pennsylvania, 
and other states, by turning out the federal officeholders, 
nearly all of whom were Federalists. In his inaugural address, 
March 4, 1801, Jefferson tried to soothe his poUtical opponents. 
"We have called by different names brethren of the same 
principle," said he ; "we are all Republicans, we are all Federal- 
ists." Later he announced that he would appoint none but 
Republicans, until the Republicans and Federalists in office 
were about equal ; " after which," said he, "I . . . shall return 
with joy to that state of things when the only questions con- 
cerning a candidate shall be, Is he honest? Is he capable? 
Is he faithful to the Constitution?" Before he could reach 
that point, he removed or replaced 109 civil officials, or about 
one third of all the officeholders filling important posts. 

In the last days of Adams's term twenty-four new judicial 
officers were created — often called "midnight judges." Jeffer- 
son was furious at what he called Adams's indecent conduct 
"in crowding of appointments . . . after he knew he was mak- 
ing them . . . not for himself, even to nine o'clock of the night 
at twelve o'clock of which he was to go out of office." There- 
fore, in the first session of the Republican Congress, the new 
judgeships were abolished (1802), and Adarhs's appointees lost 



^40 ' Expansion of the Republic 

their places. When the Supreme Court, in the cast ^ ACrbury 
v:. Madison (1803), tried to protect some minor olficers, whom 
Jefferson had refused to recognize, Jefferson's friends retorted 
by an unsuccessful attempt to impeach and remove Samuel 
Chase, one of the Supreme ^»1: justices. 




158. The LouiiPJP^^ESTiON (1763-1803) 

Jefferson was a man who felt strongly the duty of looking 
out for the nation's interest ; and he was greatly aroused by a 
change in the ownership of Louisiana. Napoleon Bonaparte 
(§ 153) was just then at peace with Great Britain, and formed 
a scheme of colonial empire, for which he wanted Louisiana. 

What was Louisiana ? To answer this question we must keep 
in mind that the regions east and west of the Mississippi River 
had not the same territorial history. Both sides were claimed 
by France under La Salle's discoveries and the first colony of 
1699 (§§ 62, 63). In 1763 the whole eastern half, except the 
Island of Orleans (the triangle between the Mississippi, the 
Bayou Manchac, and the Gulf, including New Orleans), was 
ceded to Great Britain and ceased to be reckoned as part of 
Louisiana. The cession included the strip along the Gulf coast 
from the Island of Orleans to the river Per dido, to which the 
British gave the name of West Florida. The remainder of 
Louisiana, including the whole western half, together with the 
Island of Orleans, went to Spain (§ 69). During the Revolu- 
tion, Spain conquered from Great Britain part of West Florida. 
In 1800, by the treaty of San Ildefonso, Napoleon received 
back "the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same ex- 
tent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had 
when France possessed it." The greatest military power in 
the world thus again became the possessor of both banks of 
ths lower Mississippi and a near neighbor to the United States. 

The natural uneasiness of the Americans, when in 1802 they 
heard of this change, was heightened when the Spanish gov- 
ernor withdrew the privilege of sending goods through New 



Purchase of Louisiana 241 

Orleans free of duty, which had been secured by the treaty of 
1795 (§ 147). Plainly, he meant to turn over the province to 
France with the river blocked to American trade. Hence it 
was that Jefferson wrote to Robert R. Livingston, our minister 
in France : "There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor 
of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans. 
The day that France takes possession of New Orleans . . . 
from that moment, we must marry ourselves to the British 
fleet and nation." 

A party in Congress wanted to take New Orleans by mili- 
tary force; and an act was passed authorizing 80,000 volun- 
teers. Jefferson was cooler. He instructed Livingston to 
attempt the purchase of the Island of Orleans and the strip to 
the eastward, between the southern boundary of the United 
States and the Gulf. In January, 1803, he designated his 
friend James Monroe as a special envoy to France to aid Liv- 
ingston. Fortunately for America, Napoleon was already 
tired of his own plan, for war with Great Britain was about to 
break out again, and it would be impossible for him to protect 
the sea route to Louisiana. Meanwhile he failed to reconquer 
the necessary halfway station of Haiti, where Toussaint L'Ou- 
verture, a negro general, aided by fever, had the impertinence 
to destroy 10,000 of his best troops. 

159. Purchase of Louisiana (1803) 

Therefore, while Livingston was trying to buy West Florida 
and New Orleans, suddenly the French foreign office asked him 
what he would give for the whole of Louisiana. One day later 
Monroe arrived, and the two ministers did not hesitate to go 
beyond their instructions by accepting the offer, but for some 
weeks haggled over the price. The treaty was completed April 
30, 1803 ; the United States was to pay $11,250,000 in cash and 
$3,750,000 to American claimants against the French govern- 
ment, a total of $15,000,000; in return Napoleon ceded all 
Louisiana, including the Island of Orleans and the whole 




242 



Purchase of Louisiana 243 

western part of the valley of the Mississippi, with an area of 
885,000 square miles. Livingston, Monroe, and Jefferson 
each thought that he was responsible for this splendid addi- 
tion to the territory of the United States. In reality, Louisiana 
came like a plum dropping from the tree ; but Jefferson is 
fairly entitled to the credit of seeing more clearly than any other 
man of his time the danger of France becoming a neighbor, and 
the possibilities of the West. 

Since there was nothing in the Constitution on the question 
of annexing territory, Jefferson asked for a constitutional 
amendment ; but his friends found authority in the old Fed- 
eralist doctrine of implied powers, and the treaty was promptly 
ratified. Notwithstanding protests by some of the New Eng- 
land Federalists, the next step was to take possession of the 
new country; New Orleans was turned over by the Spanish 
commander to a French officer (November 30, 1803), and 
twenty days thereafter was formally ceded by the Frenchman 
to the United States; though the distant Spanish post of 
St. Louis was not transferred till March, 1804. 

The population of the new acquisition was about 40,000, 
almost entirely settled along the water fronts of the Mississippi 
and Red rivers. Congress speedily passed an act organizing 
the lower part of Louisiana as the Territory of Orleans, with 
an appointed legislature. The people of New Orleans were in 
an uproar. They did not like the new laws, the new language, 
or the new governor, and Congress good-naturedly gave them 
a territorial government with an elective legislature (March, 
1805). Seven years later an act was passed for the admission 
of this small part of the old province of Louisiana as "Louisi- 
ana," an equal state in the Union (i8th). 

The annexation of Louisiana soon led to serious boundary 
controversies with Spain. The treaty of 1803 contained no 
description of Louisiana except the phrase of the treaty of 
San Ildefonso: "with the same extent that it now has in the 
hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it"; 
hart's new amer. hist. — 16 



244 Expansion of the Republic 

but "in the hands of Spain" Louisiana did not include West 
Florida; while "as France possessed it" Louisiana extended 
to the Perdido. The Spanish government insisted that their 
cession of Louisiana in 1800 was not intended to include West 
Florida, and the French supported that contention. Yet 
Livingston, who had started out to purchase West Florida, 
could not give up the idea that he had secured it as part of 
Louisiana, and Jefferson soon took up that belief, which was 
held for many years. 

Spain was in possession of the disputed strip, and refused to 
give it up. In 18 10 the United States annexed part of the 
region, and in 181 1 Congress passed a secret act authorizing 
the President to take East Florida also; butitv/asnot till 1813 
that the whole even of the West Florida claim was occupied. 

160. Reaching out for Oregon (i 792-181 i) 

Jefferson was the first man to see the possibilities on the 
northwestern Pacific coast, where in 1792 Captain Gray, ir 
the ship Columbia of Boston, had found the mouth of a great 
river, and named it for his ship. As soon as Jefferson became 
President, he induced Congress to provide for an overland 
expedition to this Oregon country, under the command of 
William Clark and Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson's private sec- 
retary. By the time this expedition left St. Louis (May 14, 
1804), the whole Missouri valley had become part of the United 
States, by the annexation of Louisiana. In the course of six 
months, the party of 45 men ascended the Missouri 1600 miles. 
They camped all winter, and in' the spring of 1805, 31 of them 
started northwest, under the guidance of the Indian "Bird 
Woman," who carried her child on her back. In August, 1805, 
they reached a point on the Missouri River where a man could 
bestride it ; and then they struck across the mountains on horse- 
back and found a westward-flowing river ; following down, they 
reached the mouth of the Columbia River (November 15, 1805), 
4000 miles from St. Louis. 



I 



Burr Insurrection 



245 



This expedition through a country absolutely unknown to 
white men, opened up half a continent ; and it was the second 
Hnk (following Gray's discovery) in the chain that bound 
Oregon to the United States. Eventually it gave the United 
States a PaciBc sea front, and opened a broad window towaid 
the Pacific islands and Asia. In 181 1 John Jacob Astor forged 




Explorations of Lewis and Clark, and Pike. 
the third link of our possession by establishing a fur-trading 
post at Astoria, on the south side of the Columbia. 

Meanwhile, in 1806, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike, with a com- 
mand of United States troops, approached the northern bound- 
ary of Louisiana in an exploration up the Mississippi River to 
find its source. On another expedition he made his way west- 
ward overland, discovered Pikes Peak, and came out beyond 
our boundaries in New Mexico. 

161. Burr Insurrection (1806) 
Another difficulty arose in Louisiana in 1806 through the 
ambition of Aaron Burr. His willingness to accept the pres- 
idency in 1 80 1 (§ 154) was never forgiven by Jefferson; and in 
the presidential election of 1804 George CHnton of New York 
was put in his place for Vice President. Jefferson and Clinton 
swept the country; the Federahst candidates got only 14 



246 Expansion of the Republic 

electoral votes. Meanwhile Burr was defeated as independent 
candidate for governor of New York, and laid this defeat to 
Alexander Hamilton. Burr, therefore, forced a duel on Hamil- 
ton and killed him. 

When his term as Vice President expired in 1805, Burr was 
a desperate man. Being indicted for the murder of Hamilton, 
he thought it prudent to go west for a time, and returned with 
vague schemes for settling or conquering a region in the South- 
west on, or more probably beyond, the Spanish boundary. 
He raised a few score men, and floated down the Ohio River 
(December, 1806) into the Mississippi. His friend, and, as 
he hoped, his partner, James Wilkinson, general of the United 
States army, played him false. Hastily making an agreement 
that the Sabine River should be the temporary boundary of 
Louisiana, Wilkinson hurried to New Orleans, arrested some of 
Burr's followers, and forwarded to Jefferson a letter from Burr 
which proposed to seize New Orleans, where ''there would be 
some confiscation." Jefferson had been waiting to see how 
far Burr would go ; he now issued a proclamation against him, 
and had him arrested and sent east to stand trial for treason. 
Chief Justice Marshall ruled that there was no evidence of 
treason, and, to the wrath of the President, Burr went free; 
but he never could enter public life again. 

162. Impressments and Captijues (1803-1805) 

After a renewal of the European war in 1803, interference 
with American neutral trade began again. The British justified 
their harsh measures on the ground that the Americans indulged 
in three forms of sharp practice : (i) Deserters from British 
ships of war were welcomed to employment on Yankee mer- 
chantmen. (2) American ships frequently carried two or three 
different sets of ship's papers, to make themselves out some- 
thing different from what they were, so as to avoid capture. 
(3) The Americans, through their ports, carried on trade from 
French colonial ports to France. 



Crisis of Neutral Trade 247 

To meet these real or fancied difficulties, the British began 
to capture or search American vessels, often for reasons not 
urged earlier: (i) By the new doctrine of "continuous voy- 
ages," their courts held that the profitable trade in West India 
sugar brought to the United States, unloaded, and then re- 
shipped to Spain or France, was subject to capture. (2) Ves- 
sels which had carried a doubtful cargo going out, were captured 
on their way home with innocent cargoes. In order to enforce 
these new principles, British men-of-war cruised up and down 
the American coast, and captured American vessels outside the 
ports to which they belonged. (3) Impressments began again 
on a large scale, for the hard, underpaid, and often cruel naval 
service of Great Britain caused hundreds of sailors to desert. 

163. Crisis of Neutral Trade (1806-1807) 

Against all these outrages the United States government 
remonstrated ; but Jefferson wanted to keep the peace, and 
instead of building warships he induced Congress to spend 
$1,600,000 in building and maintaining a flotilla of small gun- 
boats for coast defense. In 1804 the commercial clauses of 
the Jay treaty of 1794 by agreement were allowed to expire, and 
Great Britain would not grant as good terms again ; therefore 
we had no commercial treaty at all. To compel Great Britain 
to come to terms. Congress enacted a "Nonimportation Act," 
— practically the old Association of 1774 over again (§ 86), — 
which never took effect. 

Napoleon still hoped by combining the fleets of France and 
Spain to check the British sea power ; but in 1805 the splendid 
genius of Admiral Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar destroyed 
the allied fleet, and left Great Britain supreme at sea. The 
resourceful emperor of the French then set up what was called 
the "Continental System," by which all the numerous allies 
of France agreed not to purchase any British goods. 

Great Britain retaliated in 1S06 and 1807 with Orders in 
Council, setting up "paper blockades" on the French coast. 



248 Expansion of the Republic 

Napoleon replied by the BerUn and Milan Decrees (November, 
1806, December, 1807), forbidding all trade to the British islands 
or in British goods. The worst sufEerers from this furious war 
of documents were the American shipowners, yet they were 
the people who least wanted war. Although, between 1803 
and 1811, the British took 917 American vessels, and the French 
took 558, the profits of the neutral trade were so great that the 
American tonnage engaged in foreign trade almost doubled. 

The difficulty reached its crisis in June, 1807, when the 
United States ship Chesapeake was stopped on the high seas 
off Cape Henry by the British frigate Leopard, so that some 
deserters from the British navy who had enhsted on board the 
American ship might be taken off. The Chesapeake, though in 
international usage a part of the territory of the United States, 
was fired upon and disabled, and three American-born sailors 
were then seized, besides one English deserter. 

164. The Embargo (1807-1809) 

The accumulation of injuries called for action of some kind. 
Negotiation had failed ; Great Britain would neither make a 
treaty nor give any satisfaction for the Leopard outrage. The 
United States might fight, but war would cut off American 
trade almost altogether. To yield and say nothing meant 
to give up abjectly the rights of an independent nation. Jef- 
ferson's ingenious mind found a way out of this apparently 
impassable bog by the Embargo Act (December 22, 1807), 
prohibiting the sailing of any ship carrying a cargo from the 
United States to foreign ports. Jefferson was sure that both 
France and Great Britain would come to terms if the American 
food products and other exports were cut off. On the contrary, 
Napoleon simply confiscated American vessels in French ports, 
because, he argued, they must have violated the American em- 
bargo ; and the British, though they felt the loss of American 
exports, held out stubbornly. 

The people who suffered most and who made the most ado 



Review 249 

were the Americans. The New England, middle, and southern 
states were all heavy exporters, and as the year 1808 wore on, 
thousands of people found their livelihood taken away. Ships 
moldered at the wharves, wheat rotted in the warehouses ; 
the peace-loving Jefferson found his temper rising, as the peo- 
ple, especially the New Englanders, slipped out of port or de- 
fiantly carried their goods over the Canadian boundary, x^t the 
end of fourteen months, the country, especially New England, 
would bear no more; and against Jefferson's private remon- 
strance, Congress repealed the Embargo Act (March i, 1809). 

165. Review 

Jefferson was a modern man, interested in literature, science, 
and agriculture, as well as in public affairs. He came into office 
in 1801, determined to payoff the public debt and to diminish 
party spirit. In spite of the economy of Gallatin, Secretary of 
the Treasury, he was obliged to spend money on war with 
piratical Tripoli. He tried to equalize parties by removing 
some Federalist officeholders, and his friends attempted in vain 
to curb the Supreme Court which assailed his policies. 

Jefferson's greatest service to his country was the annexation 
of Louisiana, which unexpectedly came as the result of an effort 
to secure the mouth of the Mississippi. This annexation 
strengthened the South, began a policy of enlarging the Union, 
and at once led to boundary disputes with Spain. Before 
Louisiana was annexed, Jefferson had started a government 
expedition to Oregon, which in 1805 terminated its overland 
journey at the mouth of tlie Columbia, and thereby laid the 
foundation for a territorial holding on the Pacific coast. Jeffer- 
son skillfully crushed his enemy Aaron Burr, who engaged in a 
vague scheme of invading the western country. 

Jefferson's second administration (i 805-1 809) was full of new 
issues and of disappointments, which were chiefly due to the 
fierceness of the war between France and Great Britain. Both 
powers looked on American neutral trade as simply something 



250 Expansion of the Republic 

that helped the other side. Both captured American merchant 
vessels and cargoes, and in addition Great Britain impressed 
American sailors. 

The crisis came when, by the British Orders in Council and the 
French decrees (1806-1807), additional unjust captures of Ameri- 
can vessels were made, and when sailors were taken from the 
deck of the United States ship of war, Chesapeake. Jefferson's 
remedy was an Embargo (1807) intended to prevent American 
products from reaching the two contending powers ; but the 
producers and merchants of the United States would not stand 
the pressure, and the Embargo was repealed shortly before 
the retirement of Jefferson (1809). 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 242, 245. — Avery, U.S., VII. — 
Bogart, Econ. Hist., 287. — Channing, Jejfersonian System. — ■ Coman, 
Indust. Hist., 173. — Fish, Am. Diplomacy, 218; Am. Nationality, 486. 

— Johnson, Union and Democracy, 134, 185, 190. — Semple, Geogr. 
Conditions, 93-113. — Shepherd, Hist. Atlas, 198. 

Secondary. Adams, U.S., I. 185-446, II-IV; John Randolph, i- 
233. — - Allen, Navy and Barhary Corsairs. — Brady, Stephen Decatur, 
1-61. — Cable, Creoles of La., 1-160. — Chadwick, U.S. and Spain, I. 
chs. iii-vii. — Channing, Jejfersonian System, chs. i-xvii. — ■ Fish, Am. 
Diplomacy, chs. xii, xiii; Am. Nationality, ch. vii. — Foster, Century 
of Diplomacy, 185-232. — Hosmer, Louisiana Purchase, 21-178. — 
Hunt, James Madison, chs. xxviii, xxix. — Lighten, Lewis and Clark. 

— McCaleb, Aaron Burr Conspiracy. — McMaster, U.S., II. 583-635, 
III. 1-88, 142-338, 496-514, V. 373-380, 418-432. — Mahan, 5ea Power 
in Rel. to War of 1812, I. 99-214. — Merwin, Thomas Jefferson, 119- 
164; Aaron Burr, 57-147. — Roosevelt, Winning of the West, IV. 
258-343. — ^ Schouler, U.S., II. 1-229. 

Sources. Ames, State Docs, on Fed. Relations, 26-44. — Caldwell, 
Terr. Development, 77-108. — Harding, Select Orations, no. 12. — Hart, 
Contemporaries, III. §§ 106-122; Patriots and Statesmen, III. 87-103, 
108-213. — James, Readings, §§52-56. — Johnson, Readings, §§71-' 
76. — Old South Leaflets, nos. 44, 104, 105, 128, 131, 134, 174. — See 
New Engl. Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, § 81 ; Syllabus, 338- 
340. 

Illustrative. Bennet, Volunteer with Pike. — Bynner, Zachary 
Phips (Burr). — Cable, Grandissimes ; Strange True Stories of La. — 



References and Topics 251 

Carpenter, Code of Victor Jallot. — Hale, Man Without a Country; 
Philip N clangs Friends. — Hough, Magnificent Adventure. — Johnston, 
Lewis Rand. — Scenes at Washington. — Seawall, Decatur and Somers. 
Pictures. Avery, U.S., VII. — Sparks, Expansion. — Wilson, Am. 
People, III. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Thomas Jefferson as a young man, or at college, or as a planter. 
[§ 156] — (2) Jefferson's " republican simplicity." [§ 156] — (3) In- 
cidents of the Barbary wars. [§ 156] — (4) Negotiations for Louisiana 
in Paris. [§ 159] — (5) Adventures of Lewis and Clark in 1804, or 
in 1805. [§ 160] — (6) Settlement at x\storia. [§ 160] — (7) First Ameri- 
can exploration of the Pikes Peak region. [§ 160] — (8) Burr's visits to 
the West. [§ 161] — (9) Attack on the frigate Chesapeake. [§ 163] — 
(10) Objections to the Embargo. [§ 164] 

Topics for Further Search 

(11) Officeholders turned out by Jefferson. [§ 157] — (12) Why 
did Napoleon want Louisiana? [§ 158] — (13) Why did Napoleon give 
up Louisiana? [§ 158] — (14) Why did the people of Louisiana object 
to the new government? [§ 159] — (15) Was West Florida part of 
Louisiana? [§ 159] — (16) Was Burr a traitor? [§ 161] — (17) Jef- 
ferson's gunboat system. [§ 163] — (18) What was Napoleon's Conti- 
nental System? [§ 163] 



CHAPTER XV 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN (1809-1815) 
166. Madison's Diplomacy (1S09-1811) 

Jefferson was glad to follow Washington's example in re- 
tirintj from the presidency at the end of his second term. He 

secured the office for his 
Secretary of State, James 
Madison, who was elected 
I'resident in 180S over 
the Federalist C. C. 
Pinckney, by 122 electoral 
\'otes to 47. Madison no 
Ic^nger showed his earlier 
spirit (§§ 117, 152), was 
not a good party leader, 
and his Cabinet, with 
the exception of Gallatin, 
was weak. All the efforts 
of President Madison to 
adjust the troubles with 
Great Britain failed ; a 
fair treaty was signed 
by the British minister, 
Erskine, in iSog, but 
Great Britain refused to 
ratify his work. The next minister, James Jackson, accused 
the President and Secretary of State of lying, and noted in his 
private correspondence that "a more despicable set I never 

^52 




UuLLV Madisux, about 1810. (Mrs. 
James Madison, a famous social leader. 
From the portrait by Stuart.) 



Coming on of War 253 

met with before," which was his way of complaining because 
the United States government absokitely refused to have any 
more dealings with him ; but he was received and welcomed by 
New England Federalists. 

Congress had no better success. It passed a "Non-Inter- 
course Act" (March i, 1809), prohibiting commerce with 
France and Great Britain, but the commerce went on indi- 
rectly. In 1810, by the "Macon Bill No. 2," Congress feebly 
attempted to play off one enemy against another. Napoleon 
in August, 1810, pubhcly announced, "His Majesty loves the 
Americans ; their prosperity and their commerce are within 
the scope of his policy" ; oh the same day he showed his affec- 
tion by a secret decree ordering the confiscation of all American 
ships in his ports. 

167. Coming on of War (181.1-1812) 

Upon the western frontier, two Indian leaders had arisen — 
the brothers Tecumseh and the Prophet. Tecumseh was per- 
haps the greatest Indian in American history, because he was 
the only one to grasp the idea of throwing the whites back by 
forming a confederation of all the frontier tribes from north to 
south. He succeeded in controlling 5000 warriors, a force 
which, if it would only act together, could defeat any army that 
the United States was able on short notice to bring into the 
field. 

In 181 1, while Tecumseh was absent, William Henry Harri- 
son, governor of Indiana Territory, forced the fight by marching 
with 1000 men against the Indian town of Tippecanoe, on 
the Wabash River. Harrison took it and burned it. A few 
months later war broke out on the soutliern frontier, where 
Fort Mimms, near the Alabama River, was captured by the 
Creeks and about 500 people were killed. General Andrew 
Jackson was put in command of the southwestern troops, and 
in several campaigns during 1813 and 1814 nearly crushed out 
the opposing Indians. 



254 



War with Great Britain 



Meanwhile the public feeling of wrath and indignation 
steadily rose against France, and still more against England. 
In the new Congress, which met in December, 1811, Henry 
Clay of Kentucky was chosen Speaker of the House ; he 
organized it with a view to war, and made young John C. 




The War of 181 2. 
Calhoun, of South Carolina, chairman of the Committee on 
Military Affairs. 

War had at last become popular in the majority of the Repub- 
lican party which controlled both houses. The West had no 
patience with the timidity of the shipowners, for to the frontiers- 
men nothing seemed easier than to conquer Canada, and, as 
Clay said, to "negotiate the terms of a peace at Quebec or 
Halifax." The country was then prosperous; manufactures 
were springing up, and nearly $200,000,000 worth of goods 



Land and Sea Campaigns of 1812 255 

were made in the country in a single year. But the "War 
Hawks" in Congress did not consider that the national revenues 
were falling off, that the army numbered only 7000 men, and 
that there were no good roads to the Canadian frontier. 

President Madison could not stand the pressure, and war was 
formally declared against Great Britain, June 18, 181 2. The 
official reasons for the war were as follows: (i) the insolence 
of the British cruisers on the coast; (2) the capture of over 
900 American vessels since 1803 ; (3) blockades and other 
unrighteous practices under the British Orders in Council; 
(4) the stirring up of Indian hostilities; (5) impressment. 
An apology had been made for the Chesapeake affair; at the 
last moment the British partly withdrew the offensive orders ; 
and we now know that it was an error to suppose that the 
British government instigated the Indian wars. Nevertheless, 
two substantial grievances remained — the capture of our 
merchantmen and the impressment of about 4000 seamen, 
of whom many were still prisoners on British cruisers. 

The real reason for the war was a sense of indignation at the 
overbearing conduct of Great Britain, shown not only in the 
search and capture of vessels but in the refusal to withdraw the 
Orders in Council and in the contemptuous tone of such diplo- 
mats as Jackson. The British felt that they were fighting for 
the freedom of mankind against a despot, and that the American 
claims to neutral trade and seamen's rights were simply methods 
of preventing the British from destroying Napoleon's power. 
They looked on the American claim of the right to change al- 
legiance, which was part of the contest with regard to impress- 
ments, as a new and dangerous idea. 

168. Land and Sea Campaigns or 181 2 

The Americans set out to decide the war by a single land 
campaign, and their campaign began in an effort of General 
Hull to seize the part of Canada north of Lake Erie. The tables 
were unexpectedly turned when the British captured Detroit 



256 



War with Great Britain 



(August, 1812) after an ignoble defense by Hull. The Ameri- 
cans then made two attempts to penetrate Canada across the 
Niagara River ; both were utter failures because the American 
troops had no d'scipline and no confidence in their officers. 




The Frigate Constitution. 

The country discovered all at once that it had made no proper 
preparation for a land war. 

Hence there was great joy when news of naval victories began 
to pour in. At the outbreak of the war the United States navy 
consisted of sixteen vessels, of which the largest was a handy 
44-gun frigate. President Madison expected that the little 
fleet would surely be captured; nevertheless, when our frigate 



The Indecisive Year 257 

Constitution fell in with the Guerriere, a ship of about her ton- 
nage, in thirty minutes the Guerriere lay a helpless wreck 
(August, 181 2). Two months later, the Wasp took the British 
brig Frolic; and the frigate United States captured, and subse- 
quently brought into port, the British frigate Macedonian. 
Then the Constitution made another splendid capture, the 
frigate Java. During the year the only loss of the Americans 
was the Wasp, taken by a British three-decker battleship. 
In all, sixteen British ships of war were captured, besides those 
on the Lakes. In vain did the British attempt to show that the 
American ships in every case had more tonnage, or more men, 
or more weight of broadside. The British navy had not been 
accustomed to calculate odds so closely ; in fact nearly every 
capture was due to the superior guns and marksmanship of 
the Americans. 

169. The Indecisive Year (18 13) 

The tide of naval victory changed in 1813, notwithstanding 
several other gallant captures of British cruisers. The Ameri- 
can frigate Chesapeake was taken by the Shannon (May 30) ; 
and by the end of '181 3 most of the American cruisers were 
driven into port and there blockaded. Then the President 
was captured ; but the frigate Essex, Captain Porter, found its 
way into the Pacific and made havoc of the British whalers, 
till captured in Chilean waters in 1814. The land war was 
renewed on the Canadian frontier, but here the principal gains 
were on the boundary lakes. Lieutenant Oliver H. Perry was 
sent to Lake Erie to prepare the way for a recapture of Detroit. 
With wonderful energy he constructed a fleet of five vessels, 
trained his crews, and on September 10, 1813, met the attack of 
the enemy at the battle of Lake Erie, off Put-in-Bay. He re- 
ported his victory in the laconic letter, "We have met the 
enemy and they are ours : two ships, two brigs, one schooner, 
and one sloop." 

Perry's victory cleared the way for a successful campaign 



258 War with Great Britain 

in western Canada. General William H. Harrison defeated the 
Canadians and their Indian allies at the battle of the Thames 
in Canadian territory (October 5, 18 13), where Tecumseh was 
killed. Renewed attempts to invade eastern Canada, under 
General Wilkinson, were again a failure ; and at the end of the 
year 1813 the war was a sort of drawn game — each side 
occupying substantially the territory which it held at the 
beginning. 

170. On the Defensive (1814) 

So far the British had sent few troops to aid Canada. Their 
energy was devoted chiefly to the war against Napoleon, who 
made his disastrous retreat from Russia in 181 2. In 1814, 
however, Napoleon was overwhelmed and compelled to abdi- 
cate. Large British forces by land and sea were thus set free 
and began to make a series of invasions of the United States : 
(i) The British occupied the coast of Maine as far as the Ken- 
nebec River, and blockaded most of the American coast. 

(2) A small British force was sent to seize Astoria, Oregon. 

(3) In August, a British force of only 5000 troops landed about 
fifty miles from Washington on Chesapeake Bay, marched up 
into a country inhabited by at least 50,000 able-bodied men, 
beat off an ill-commanded force hastily summoned to repel 
them, and took and burned the capital of the United States — 
as an alleged retahation for destruction in York (now Toronto) 
by American forces. (4) A similar attack on Baltimore in 
September, which suggested Key's patriotic poem, The Star- 
Spangled Banner, was beaten off by the American militia. 
(5) A British force attempting to advance southward up Lake 
Champlain was stopped (September, 1814), partly by a fleet 
unde*- Commander MacDonough, partly by the presence of 
militia intrenched at Plattsburg, under Macomb. 

In a last attempt to invade Canada, the Americans crossed 
the Niagara River and fought two battles, at Chippewa and 
at Lundys Lane (July 15, 1814) ; but they again retreated to 



Humiliation of the War 259 

their own territory. The closing incident of the war was an 
attack on the Gulf coast by General Pakenham. General 
Andrew Jackson fortified himself at Chalmette, just below New 
Orleans, and there (January 8, 181 5), the British column of 
5300 troops assaulted his works, defended by about 4000 troops, 
of whom only a third were actually engaged. The American 
miUtia, however, were well commanded and intrenched, and 
they beat off the British army, inflicting a loss of 2000. 

171. Humiliation of the War 

The victory of Jackson left in the minds of Americans the 
notion that they had repeated the experience of the Revolution 
by defeating the veteran troops of Great Britain ; and that 
they could always depend upon militia to spring to the defense 
of their country when needed. So far as the sea fights were 
concerned, the early war was a briUiant victory for the Ameri- 
cans; but as the months went on, every American cruiser 
was either captured, sunk, or helplessly blockaded in a home 
port. For a time, there was not an American commissioned ship 
of war on the ocean. Nevertheless the naval war was con- 
tinued with brilHancy and success by a swarm of American 
privateers. American shipowners, whose vessels could no 
longer with safety carry a cargo, turned them into private 
fighting ships, which often richly paid for themselves out 
of their prizes. In three years about 1700 American mer- 
chant ships were taken by the British; on the other hand, 
2300 British merchantmen were taken by privateers, besides 
200 by cruisers, though 750 were retaken by the British; and 
the insurance on a voyage from England to Ireland rose to 
14 per cent. Dismay spread through the maritime interest of 
England. As the London Times said of the American ships, 
"If they fight, they are sure to conquer; if they fly, they 
are sure to escape." 

In the land war, the three clear American victories were 
the battle of the Thames, though Harrison could not hold the 
hart's new amer. msT. — 17 



26o War with Great Britain 

territory thus gained; Macomb's repulse of the British at Lake 
Champlain, from which the United States gained no territory; 
and the victory of Jackson, aUhough it did not drive the British 
off the coast. The United States could hardly be called vic- 
torious when the British captured part of Maine, took our only 
holding in Oregon, and destroyed the capital city, almost without 
opposition. 

Throughout, there was no lack of men for the American serv- 
ice. During the course of the war 529,000 individuals joined 
the American forces, but most of them were raw militia, with- 
out trained officers and without any experience in actual war 
against trained troops, and only 130,000 served as much as six 
months. Congress was never willing to authorize a proper 
federal army, and at one time volunteering fell off till plans 
were made for conscripting men by a draft. As in the Revo- 
lution (§ 89) a national army of 20,000 or 25,000 men, armed, 
equipped, officered, and disciplined under the authority of the 
United States alone, might have done what hundreds of 
thousands of militia could not do. On the other hand, the 
War Department was in a scandalously inefficient condition. 
Some of the commanders like Hull were old Revolutionary 
soldiers who had forgotten how to fight. The only land officers 
that came out of the war with national reputation were Harri- 
son, Jackson, Jacob Brown, and young Winfield Scott, who had 
shown decided pluck at the battle of Lundys Lane. Secretary 
Armstrong, himself a Revolutionary veteran, was compelled 
to resign when the capture of Washington proved his incapacity. 
He was succeeded by James Monroe, who was one of the few 
administrators to show courage and ability. The United States 
paid a terrible penalty for going into a war without making 
preparations beforehand. 

172. Internal Opposition to the War (1812-1814) 

One reason for the mortifications of the land campaigns was 
the pohtical opposition at home. In 1811 a New England 



lavorable Feace 261 

member of Congress, Josiah Quincy, roundly threatened that 
New England would secede if Louisiana were made a state, 
thus increasing the power of the South. As a protest against 
the war, part of the Republicans under De Witt Chnton made 
common cause with the Federalist opposition in the election of 
181 2, and the coaUtion got 89 electoral votes to 128 for Madison. 
This personal and party opposition was carried into official form. 
When the President of the United States called upon all the states 
for a certain number of militia. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont refused to send them. 

There was some reason for protest and indignation. Con- 
gress neglected to provide either men or money enough to keep 
the war going. No proper tax laws were passed till 18 13, 
when the hated Federalist excise and direct taxes were re- 
vived. The government borrowed $98,000,000 during the war, 
but the bonds had to be sold at a depreciation of from 5 per 
cent to 30 per cent; large amounts of "treasury notes" — 
promises to pay in the future — had to be issued for sup- 
plies ; and legal tender paper money was opeifly suggested. 

The critical time came when New England began to feel 
the blockade and the war taxes. In December, 1814, a con- 
vention of official delegates from several New England states 
met at Hartford. We know little of the secret debates of the 
convention, but its official report proposed that Congress should 
give up its power to prohibit foreign commerce, and should 
leave the proceeds of federal taxes to the states in which they 
were paid. Such demands could not be granted without giv- 
ing up the federal Constitution ; and they amounted to saying 
that unless the war were speedily stopped, the New England 
states would withdraw from the Union. 

173. Favorable Peace (18 14) 

One reason for the delusion that the War of 181 2 was highly 
successful, was the favorable peace which was made at Ghent 
(December 24, 1814), before the report of the Hartford Conven- 



262 War with Great Britain 

tion, and before the battle of New Orleans. Negotiations be- 
gan within a few months after the war broke out, and the com- 
missioners sent to Ghent by the British government were unex- 
pectedly willing to stop the war. The European struggle now 
seemed to be over, and when the great Duke of WeUington was 
consulted about the American war, he expressed the opinion 
that it would take a large force to drive the American militia 
out of their trenches. At sea, the devastations of the American 
privateers caused the British shipmasters to clamor for relief. 
Hence, the British commissioners at last gave way on one 
point after another: 

(i) They agreed to give up all their territorial conquests, 
and to go back to the boundaries of 1812. 

(2) They again promised not to take away slaves or other 
private property (§ 108) when they evacuated those territories. 

(3) Since the war had put an end to all outstanding treaties, 
for a time the fisheries and conditions of commerce were left 
at loose ends, but after a few months they were both settled by 
separate treaties favorable to the United States. 

The only subject on which satisfaction could not be had was 
impressments — the main cause of the war ; but as soon as the 
European war was over, impressments ceased of themselves 
and, as a matter of fact, never began again. 

174. Review 

From 1809 on, Congress tried various remedies short of war, 
but could not bring Great Britain or France to terms, by any 
form of restriction of commerce. An attack in the frontier 
country of Indiana by the Indians, erroneously supposed to be 
urged on by the British, aroused public sentiment. In 1812 
war was declared by the United States against Great Britain. 
At the last moment the British withdrew a part of the offensive 
Orders in Council ; but nothing could be done to stop impress- 
ments, which was the chief remaining grievance when war broke 
out. 



References 263 

From one point of view the war was a great humiliation to the 
United States. All the efforts to invade Canada from Detroit, 
Niagara, and the St. Lawrence River were distressing failures, 
notwithstanding the great superiority of numbers of the United 
States troops. The only creditable operations on the northern 
frontier were the battles of Lake Erie, the Thames, Lundys 
Lane, and Plattsburg; and the British finally succeeded in 
occupying a great part of Maine, and Astoria on the Pacific, 
and captured and burned Washington. 

On the other side, the little navy of the United States won a 
great success by beating the English in repeated duels and by 
capturing hundreds of British merchantmen. The Americans 
won victories on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain. After peace 
was made came the battle of New Orleans, which was a notable 
victory for the Americans. 

The war was very unpopular in the middle states and espe- 
cially in New England. Several states refused to allow their 
militia to take part. In 1814, at the Hartford Convention, 
suggestions were made that New England ought to secede. 
The favorable Peace of Ghent (1814) not only put an end to 
the war, but silenced the sectional jealousies; and the war 
left a feeling of national pride. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 242, 254. — Babcock, Rise of 
Am. Nationality, 6, 88, 136, 276. — Fish, Am. Nationality, 114. — 
Johnson, . Union and Democracy, 208. — Lucas, Canadian War. — 
Shepherd, Hist. Atlas, 200. 

Secondary. Adams, U.S., V-VIII, IX. 1-103. — Babcock, Rise of 
Am. Nationality, chs. i-x. — Bassett, Andrew Jackson, I. chs. vi-xiii. — 
Brsidy, Stephen Decatur, 62-137. — Brown, Andrew Jackson, 25-248. — 
Clark, U. S. Navy, chs. vi-xii. — Eggleston and Seeley, Tecumseh 
and the Shawnee Prophet. — Fish, Am. Diplomacy, chs. xiv, xv; Am. 
Nationality, ch. viii. — Hollis, Frigate Constitution. — Hunt, James 
Madison, chs. xxx-xxxiv. — Johnson, Union and Democracy, chs. 
xi, xii. — Lucas, Canadian War of 1812. — McMaster, U.S., III. 
339-458, 528-560, IV. 1-279. — Maclay, U.S. Navy, I. 305-658, 



264 War with Great Britain 

II. 3-22. — Mahan, Sea Power in Rel. to War of 18 12, I. 215-423, II. 

— Morison, H. G. Otis, II. chs. xix-xxviii. — Roosevelt, Naval War 
of 1812. — Schouler, U.S., II. 279-447. — Smith, Wars, 203-250. — 
Updyke, Dipl. of the War of 1812. 

Sources. Ames, State Docs, on Fed. Rels., 45-88. — ■ Bogart and 
Thompson, Readings, 217, 490. — Caldwell and Persinger, Source Hist., 
323-334. — Harding, Select Orations, no. 13. — Hart, Contemporaries, 

III. §§ 123-129; Patriots and Statesmen, III. 215-317; Source Book, 
§§82-87. — Johnson, Readings, §§ 81-86. — Johnston, Am. Orations, 
I. 164-215. — MacDonald, Select Docs., nos. 28-32. — See New Engl. 
Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, § 82; Syllabus, 340. 

Illustrative. Altsheler, Herald of the West (Washington and New 
Orleans). — Crowley, Love thrives in War. — E. Eggleston, Roxy (Tippe- 
canoe). — G. C. Eggleston, Am. War Ballads, I. 1 13-145. — Matthews, 
Poems of Am. Patriotism, 83-107. — Munroe, Midshipman Stuart. — 
Post, Smith Brunt. ■ — Pyle, Within the Capes. — Read, By the Eternal 
(New Orleans). — Seawell, Midshipman Paulding. 

Pictures. Lossing, Field Book of the War of 18 12. — Mentor, serial 
no. 103. — Wilson, Am. People, III. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Influence of Tecumseh. [§ 167] — • (2) Battle at Tippecanoe. 
[§ 167] — (3) Henry Clay, or John C. Calhoun, as a boy and young 
man. [§ 167] — (4) The capture of one of the following ships : Guerriere; 
Frolic; Macedonian; Java. [§ 168] — (5) The capture of one of the 
following American ships : Wasp; Chesapeake; Essex; President. [^ i6g] 

— (6) Contemporary accounts of the battle of Put-in-Bay. [§ 169] — 
(7) British occupation of the coast of Maine. [§ 170] — (8) Jackson's 
New Orleans campaign. [§ 170] — (9) Adventures of Winfield Scott 
in the War of 181 2. [§171] — (10) Public services of De Witt Clinton. 
[§ 172] 

Topics for Further Search 

(11) James Madison in Congress; or as Secretary of State; or as 
President.. [§ 166] — (12) What was the " Macon Bill No. 2"? [§i66] — 

(13) Was there sufficient reason for the War of 1812? [§ 167] — 

(14) Why did the campaigns fail on the Niagara frontier? [§ 168] — 

(15) Why were the Americans so successful at sea? [§ 168] — (16) Why 
was Washington captured by the British? [§ 170] — (17) Account 
of the Hartford Convention. [§ 172] — (18) Why was the peace of 
Ghent so favorable? [§ 173] 



CHAPTER XVI 

SETTLING THE WEST (1800-1820) 

175. The West as a Factor in the Nation 

Ever since the early years of the Revolution, the West had 
been active in national affairs : first, by the part played by 
the westerners in the war (§§ 94, 104) ; then by the demand 
that the national Congress should provide for new western 
states (§ 102) ; and then by the admission of the three western 
states Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio (§ 142), and the part 
played by their senators and representatives and by their state 
legislatures in national affairs. 

In 18 ID about 1,250,000 out of 7,000,000 people in the 
United States were living west of the summits of the Appala- 
chians. Pioneer conditions could still be found in the northern 
woods of New England and New York, and in considerable 
parts of Pennsylvania and the southern states ; but the people 
of those regions joined in the political life of the seacoast. 
The West was different ; it was a region in which practically 
everybody was a pioneer. The western people had a sense 
of belonging to a section of their own, and of looking upon 
national questions from their own standpoint. 

In 1802 Jefferson predicted that the Mississippi valley "will 
ere long yield more than half of our whole produce and contain 
more than half of our inhabitants." Two decades later the 
West contained one fourth of the inhabitants of the Union, and 
had revealed many elements of its own natural wealth, among 
them the following: (i) The soil was deep and fertile; the 

265 



266 Settling the West 

bottom lands of Kentucky and Tennessee, the wooded areas' oi 
Ohio, and the prairies farther west all bore surprising crops. 

(2) Most of the settled area abounded in superb timber, fur- 
nishing abundant building material. A few of the best trees 
ran to 150 or even 200 feet in height and 30 to 40 feet in girth. 

(3) The country was well watered and fitted for grazing, so 
that the westerners easily raised cattle and about 1820 began 
to drive herds over the mountains to market. (4) The abundant 
waterways and the ease of making roads quickly opened the 
country to settlement. (5) Regular coal mining began in Pitts- 
burgh in 1784, and the black diamonds were found also in many 
other places. (6) Iron ore was abundant, and charcoal iron 
furnaces were started, .while lead was discovered in Illinois and 
Wisconsin. 

176. The Westward Movement 

A stream of immigrants sought this promised land, with an 
effect seen in the census returns of some of the states : Ten- 
nessee had 36,000 people in 1790 and 262,000 in iSio; Ohio 



''kv\ 







^v.- ^..V^^^v--*-?'--^^^ 




Detroit in 1815. 



Roads and Waterways to the West 267 

rose from 45,000 in 1800 to 581,000 in 1820. New settlements 
sprang up. Fort Dearborn, on the Chicago River, first built 
in 1803 and destroyed by Indians in 181 2, was rebuilt in 1816, 
and became the nucleus of Chicago. Terre Haute, Fort Wayne, 
and South Bend were settled about 1817. St. Louis had been 
founded by the French in 1764. Although the eastern states 
were all growing rapidly, they were able to send off swarms of 
emigrants, because large families were common throughout 
the country. Every stalwart son could make a livehhood, and 
almost every daughter was wanted as a farmer's wife. 

To accommodate this stream of land-hungry people, the 
United States in 1800 adopted a new public land system : land 
was divided into small parcels and sold at land offices on the 
frontier at a minimum price of $2 an acre, one fourth of the pur- 
chase money do\vn and four years' time for the balance. Many 
followed the principle of the old woman in Eggleston's novel, 
The Hoosier Schoolmaster, who, when her husband was buy- 
ing, said, "Git a plenty while you're a gittin' . . . Congress 
land." 

177. Roads and Waterways to the West 

To reach the western lands several main highways from east 
to west were marked out by nature: (i) A route led from 
Albany through the valley of the Mohawk, and thence via 
Geneva to Buffalo. (2) In 1812 Rochester was founded, the 
plain to the west of it was quickly occupied, and a new main 
road was laid out directly west to Lake Erie. (3) From Phila- 
delphia a good road ran through Bedford in southern Penn- 
sylvania to Pittsburgh, 350 miles. (4) From Alexandria (oppo- 
site Washington) a road led about 300 miles to Pittsburgh, by 
Braddock's old route up the Potomac to Cumberland, and 
across the Laurel Mountains to the Monongahela River. 
(5) From Alexandria or Richmond people followed the long- 
traveled easy pass from the upper Roanoke southwest to the 
Holston River, and thence down the Tennessee, or northwest- 



268 



Settling the West 




L.I.POATES. ENS-n, 



11 



Roads and Waterways to the West in 1825. 

ward through the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky. (6) From 
Georgia westward there was easy travel to Mississippi Terri- 
tory and New Orleans. 

Most of the wheel roads crossed many swamps and unbridged 



Roads and Waterways to the West 269 

streams, and were without good inns. In regions where there 
was very little stone, pikes were out of the question. As a 
substitute, companies built "plank roads" of thick boards laid 
side by side, and charged toll. The greater part of the high- 
ways west of the mountains were simple rough tracks, winding 
in and out among stumps and trees, pleasant in dry weather, 
and a slough when it rained. Hence the journey from the 
eastern states to the West was a serious undertaking. The ordi- 
nary vehicle was the Conestoga wagon of wood, with an arched 
canvas top. The emigrants sold most of their furniture and 
other heavy movables, took food with them, and cooked as 
they went along. Breakdowns were frequent in the terrible 
roads, and an average of twenty miles a day was quick 
travel. 

When once the tributaries of the Mississippi were reached, 
movement became easier ; even on small rivers like the upper 
Wabash and the Muskingum, flatboats were used. The 
simplest craft in the lively river traffic was the birch-bark canoe, 
which would hold one or two persons, or the dugout, often 
larger. More elaborate was the raft, sometimes as much as 
a hundred feet long, floating all day on the current and tied up 
at night ; some of the rafts carried houses, open fires, and cattle. 
The flat-bottomed ark was sometimes as much as sixty feet 
long. The flatboat was more common, with its crew of un- 
kempt and brawny polemen, the terror of the frontier. A step 
higher was the keel boat, a more carefully built and ambitious 
structure, housed over with a deck, and provided with two 
"broadhorns," or steering oars. 

On some such craft the settler floated lazily down the rivers 
and met the dangers of the voyage — the river pirates, who 
often attacked even armed boats, and Indians, who poured in 
a volley from the shore. Many of the immigrants to central 
Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee took advantage of the water 
highways by following down the Ohio and then poling up a 
tributary to the place of destination. 



270 Settling the West 

178. Steamboats (1807-1820) 

In later times many settlers traveled in steamboats. Robert 
Fulton in New York set himself to the problem of building a 
successful steamboat (§ 128), raised with difficulty the few 
thousand dollars necessary for a trial, and ordered an engine 
from England. In August, 1807, he set in motion, on the 




The ClekmuXT. 

Hudson River, the clumsy-looking Clermont, which could 
steam against wind and tide, and on her trial trip reached 
Albany in less than a day and a half. The use of steamers 
spread rapidly. A regular line to Albany was established in 
1808 ; within five years a line was running on the Delaware, a 
steamboat was built at Pittsburgh, and steam, ferryboats were 
introduced in New York and Philadelphia ; and in 18 16 steamers 
were introduced on Long Island Sound. 

After 181 2 steamers multiplied on the western rivers. The 
hulls could be built anywhere out of timber on the spot; the 
fuel was wood from the river banks ; engines and boilers at 
first had to be brought over the mountains. The river life is 
best described in the boyhood recollections which Mark Twain 
has preserved for us in his books on the West. In 1820 it took 
thirty-five days to go up from New Orleans to Pittsburgh by 
steam, and about ten days to go down. The Great Lakes 




Local and National Highways 271 

were not safe or convenient for small sailing craft or for rowboats, 
and were not much used as a highway for immigration till steamers 
were introduced. The 
first Lake Erie steamer 
was the W alk-in-the- 
Water, built in 181 8; 
in 1832 a steamer 
reached Chicago from 
the East; and after 
that time hundreds of 
thousands of immi- 
grants passed through 
the Lakes. The Walk-in-the-Water, about 1820. 

179. Local and National Highways 

The trouble with most of the roads was that they were made 
by the local governments, which spent as little as possible. 
The stretches of privately owned "pike" and plank road 
(§ 177) in the West did not reach across the mountains. 
Some states, such as Pennsylvania, disliked to spend money 
on roads intended to carry people through them into other 
states. Hence it was suggested that the federal government 
should build national highways. The first act of Congress on 
the subject (1802) was that for the admission of Ohio, which 
provided that five per cent of the proceeds of the public lands 
sold in that state should be applied to roads to reach those lands. 
This idea took definite form in an act of 1806 for the survey 
of a road from Cumberland, Maryland, to the Ohio River. 

Construction of this so-called Cumberland Road began 
speedily; in 1820 it was opened to Wheeling. It was later 
continued westward to Columbus, thence much of the way to 
Indianapolis, and southwestward toward St. Louis. As soon 
as it was opened it became the great artery of western travel, 
for it was direct, had easy grades, and was macadamized. 
Congress in the course of thirty years spent upon it $6,800,000 ; 



272 Settling the West 

but it was at last superseded by railroads, and at various times 
after 1834 Congress transferred the roadbed to the ownership 
of states in which it lies. 

180. -Erie Canal (1817-1830) 

The most obvious line of western transit by water was from 
the Hudson up the Mohawk and across to Lake Ontario. The 
first statesman to take up the building of a canal on this route 
was De Witt Clinton of New York, who saw the many ad- 
vantages to the state and city of New York from a waterway 
which would make New York Harbor the commercial mouth 
of the Great Lakes, thus diverting traffic from New Orleans. 
The War of 181 2 gave impetus to this idea, because it showed 
how hard it was to transport men and supplies from the coast 
and the interior to the Lakes. 

In 1817, under the energetic leadership of John C. Calhoun, 
who said that "he was no advocate for refined arguments on 
the Constitution," Congress passed the so-called Bonus Bill, 
appropriating about $1,500,000 to be distributed among the 
states for internal improvements. It was expected that New 
York would have a big slice to spend on the proposed Erie 
Canal, but President Madison stepped in, and on the last day 
of his term vetoed the bill, for the "strict construction" reason 
that he could find no clause of the Constitution which distinctly 
authorized such expenditure. 

The state of New York at once set to work to build its own 
canal, and in 1823 the Erie Canal was finished from the Hudson 
near Albany to the Genesee River; in 1825 the direct line was 
completed to Black Rock, near Buffalo, 363 miles from Albany. 
The original canal cost $7,000,000, and the whole expenditure 
was more than repaid by tolls; but down to 1916, $200,000,000 
more had been spent on extensions and repairs. 

The effects of the Erie Canal were marvelous. Lands all 
along the fine at once trebled in value, and the freight rate 
from tidewater to Lake Erie dropped from $120 a ton to $19, 



Western Frontier Life 273 

The city of New York increased from 124,000 people in 1820 
■ to 203,000 in 1830, and has ever since remained the most popu- 
lous city in the Union. After 1825 a large part of the over- 
land immigration passed through the Erie Canal. The passage 
from Schenectady to Utica (about two hours by rail nowadays) 
was twenty-two hours by canal boat; the passengers were 
crowded, and half stifled at night, and the frequent cry of "low 
bridge" disturbed the journey by day, 

181. Western Frontier Life 

When the settler reached the golden West, he found sub- 
stantially the old colonial life over again — land to clear, log 
houses to build, towns to found, schools to start. An observer 
said of the westerners, "They are in a low state of civilization, 
about half Indian in their modes of life." Abraham Lincoln, 
born in Kentucky in 1809, Uved as a boy one winter in Indi- 
ana, in a hovel called a " half-faced camp." Better abodes were 
built of logs, with log chimneys and puncheon (spht log) floors, 
and might cost twenty or twenty-five days' labor. 

Yet in the midst of much that was rough, trained men like 
Philander Chase, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio, struggled on, found- 
ing schools, building new churches, educating the ministers, and 
elevating the community. The Methodist or Baptist frontier 
minister had perhaps half a dozen Uttle churches on his hands, 
and "rode circuit" from hamlet to hamlet, preaching, baptiz- 
ing, burying the dead, organizing churches, and, if necessary, 
threatening rowdies who undertook to disturb the meeting. 
One of the favorite diversions of the time was to attend camp 
meeting, which was a combination of picnic, summer resort, 
and religious exercise, where people took household furniture, 
children, dogs, and psalm books. If the ministers roared and 
the converts shrieked, foamed at the mouth, and fell in con- 
vulsions, we must remember that such exaggerated experiences 
often aroused and turned to better ways rough but powerful 
natures that could not be reached by milder means. 



274 Settling the West 

For education in the Northwest early provision was made. 
Each settlement soon had its common school. Out of land re- 
served by the Northwest Ordinance, and private contributions, 
half a dozen little colleges arose in a few years. In 1830 two 
western magazines were started : Hall's Illinois Magazine and 
Flint's Western Monthly Review. 

182. Western Territories and States (1798-1819) 

UntU many years later, the regions north and south of the 
Ohio River were both considered parts of the West. In many 
respects the pioneer life was about the same in Indiana, Ten- 
nessee, and Louisiana. All the settlers had the same problem 
of conquering the forest, of hving through dearth and the dis- 
eases from which the new settlements suffered, of laying the 
foundation for improved farms and towns and cities. Nor did 
Congress prefer one group over another. Great territories 
were created in both regions, and as they grew in population 
they were subdivided and portions were admitted as states. 
Hence most of the territorial governments lasted but a few 
years, and the number of states steadily grew. 

Out of the Northwest Territory of 1787 (§ 115) were set off 
the territories of Indiana (1800), Michigan (1805), and Illinois 
(1809). The Territory South of the Ohio River (1790) was 
incorporated in the state of Tennessee. Farther south was 
the Territory of Mississippi (1798 and 1804), from which 
was set off Alabama Territory (18 17). The greater part of the 
Louisiana purchase was organized as the Territory of Louisiana 
(1805), later renamed the Territory of Missouri (181 2). Each 
of these territories had sooner or later a representative govern- 
ment with a one-house legislature, a delegate in Congress who 
had a seat but no vote, and a governor and other territorial 
officials appointed by the President. Each of them understood 
that it was simply a halfway stage to a state government. 

The one striking difference between the northern and the 
southern territories was with regard to slavery The North- 



The Antislavery Movement 275 

west Ordinance, including the antislavery clause, was confirmed 
by act of Congress in 1789; but when the Territory South of 
the Ohio and the Mississippi Territory were organized in 1790 
and 1798, that clause was omitted, and the slavery then exist- 
ing was allowed to continue in those regions, as also in Ken- 
tucky. Shortly after Ohio was admitted into the Union (1803) 
as a free state. New Jersey added its gradual emancipation act 
to those of the neighboring states (§ 112). Thus was com- 
pleted a compact block of nine free states flanked by eight 
slaveholding states. When Louisiana was admitted to the 
Union (181 2) d,s the iSth state, the number stood nine to nine. 
As early as 1793, Congress passed a Fugitive Slave Act 
by which it took the responsibiUty for the recovery of fugitives 
who might find their way into free states. 

183. The Antislavery Movement (1807-1820) 

In 1807 the question of slavery came up clearly before Con- 
gress because of the controversy over a bill to prohibit the slave 
trade, as soon as the prohibition in the Constitution (§ 119) 
should expire. On this question, the South was divided: 
Maryland and Virginia had surplus slaves to sell to their south- 
ern neighbors and joined with the northern states in voting to 
prohibit the foreign slave trade absolutely. On the question 
of domestic slavery, however, those states stood with their 
southern neighbors. 

Still slavery at that time seemed hardly to be a sectional 
question. Anti^avcry societies were formed all along the 
border, both north and south of the Mason and Dixon Line 
and of the Ohio River. A sort of national antislavery society 
was formed in the shape of "The American Convention for 
Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and Improving the Condi- 
tion of the African Race," which met about once every two 
years. This convention and local societies discussed political 
questions affecting slavery, petitioned the state legislatures and 
Congress, and tried to stir people up to form abohtion socie- 
hart's new amer. hist. — 18 



276 Settling the West 

des. One western man, Benjamin Lundy of Kentucky, was 
a kind of antislavery apostle, and in 182 1 established an aboli- 
tion paper, the Genius of Universal Emancipation. 

These efforts were rather checked than aided by the National 
Colonization Society (founded in 181 6), which aimed (i) to en- 
courage emancipation by carrying the free negroes to Africa 
and (2) to reheve slaveholders by taking away the free negroes 
who made their slave brethren discontented. In 1819 Congress 
appropriated $100,000 to carry back slaves that might be cap- 
tured on the high seas ; a negro colony was founded in Liberia, 
on the west coast of Africa (1821), and first and last several 
thousand negroes were sent there. 

Gradually the West came into the slavery discussion, at first 
because used as a kind of balance between North and South. 
From the admission of Louisiana (181 2) the number of slave 
states was kept equal to that of free states, so that neither 
section might have a majority in the Senate; Indiana in 1816 
(19th state) was balanced by Mississippi in 1817 (20th state); 
Illinois in 1818 (21st state) was followed by Alabama in 1819 
(2 2d state). The North, including the Northwest, grew so 
much faster than the South, that in 1820, under the applica- 
non of the three-fifths rule, there were 105 free-state members 
In the House to 81 slave-state members. 

184. Political Life, and Henry Clay 

Politics was perhaps the most interesting topic in the West. 
Local parties very quickly were merged in the general national 
parties; elections were lively, and about 1800 the practice of 
"stump speaking" was introduced; that is, of open-air ad- 
dresses to a series of popular meetings. The western states led 
in a movement for the suffrage of all adult white men and for 
elective judges. In politics and in social life the most influ- 
ential man in a village was the storekeeper, who was often also 
distiller, country banker, real estate dealer, and juistice of the 
peace, and hence called "Squire." 



Missouri Compromise 277 

Local government in the West was imported from eastern 
communities. The northwestern states set up a system of 
school districts on the New England model. In Ohio, where 
the New England element was strongest, the people adopted a 
kind of modified town meeting. In Indiana and Illinois, where 
there were many southern people, and also in the southwestern 
states, the county of the southern type became more important. 

No man more distinctly represents the West than Henry 
Clay. Born a poor boy in Virginia, he emigrated to Kentucky, 
and at twenty-nine sat as senator from Kentucky in Wash- 
ington (1806). From that time to his death in 1852 Clay was 
most of the time in the service of the federal government as 
senator, representative, or Secretary of State. In six terms 
he showed himself the greatest Speaker in the history of Con- 
gress, managing the House of Representatives as a skillful coach- 
man handles a four-horse team. 

What made Clay so distinctively a western man was his 
poUtical optimism. He believed in all good things, in the future 
of his country, the growth of the West, the good judgment of 
the average voter. He was the inventor and the strongest 
advocate of what he called the "American System," by which 
he meant the commercial development of the country by pro- 
tective tariffs and other public aids. Above all, throughout 
his life he worked steadily and wisely for the establishment of 
better means of transit. His personal qualities gave strength 
to his political views ; he was courteous and quick, had a natural 
power of attracting friends to him, and was ingenious in devis- 
ing compromises when party spirit ran high. 

185. Missouri Compromise (1819-1821) 

The influence of Henry Clay was strongly felt in one phase 
of the first great political controversies over the western ques- 
tion. The issue was the admission of Missouri, which chanced 
to be the battle ground for the struggle between slavery and 
antislavery. In its institutions, the character of the popula- 



Missouri Compromise . 279 

tion and its produce, the community grouped about the lower 
Missouri River country and the section of the Mississippi below 
St. Louis, was western. The Missouri people had about the 
same make-up and interests as the neighboring state of Illinois, 
but a large part of the population came from southern slave- 
holding states, and some of them had brought their slaves with 
them and intended to keep them. When in February, 1819, a 
bill for the admission of Missouri came up in Congress, an 
antislavery amendment, introduced by James Tallmadge of 
New York, passed the House by the close vote of 87 to 86 ; 
but the Senate refused to accept it, and the bill failed. 

During 181 9 many northern legislatures and public meetings 
declared that Missouri must never be a slave state. When a 
new Congress assembled in December, 1819, a bill passed the 
House to admit Maine (at that time a part of Massachlisetts) 
as a new state ; and another bill for the admission of Missouri. 
To the latter the House, by a test vote of 94 to 86, added an 
amendment prohibiting slavery in Missouri. The Senate 
united the two measures into one bill, but instead of the House 
prohibition accepted the amendment of Senator Thomas of 
Illinois, forever prohibiting slavery in the Louisiana Purchase 
north of 36° 30' north latitude, except in Missouri. After a 
few days of great excitement, the House accepted the Thomas 
amendment as a compromise; Maine was admitted at once 
(23d state), and the people of Missouri were allowed to form 
a slaveholding constitution. 

The new Missouri constitution made it the duty of the legis- 
lature to prevent the coming in of free negroes. This provi- 
sion produced a second uproar in Congress and led to a second 
compromise, engineered by Henry Clay in 182 1, by which the 
legislature of Missouri agreed to make no law infringing on the 
rights of citizens of other states ; and Missouri was at last 
admitted to the Union (24th state). 

The essence of the Missouri Compromise was the drawing of 
a geographical line across the Louisiana Purchase, north of 



28o Settling the West 

which there were to be no slaveholding territories, and no slave- 
holding states except Missouri. That is, the act continued the 
old geographical separation of slaveholding and free territory 
along Mason and Dixon's Line and the hne of the Ohio Rivei, 
by extending the boundary around Missouri and then along 
the Hne of 36° 30' to the western hmits of the United States. 
The compromise thus excluded slavery from the larger part of 
the Louisiana Purchase, and also recognized the right of Con- 
gress to deal with slavery in the territories. 

The compromise had plenty of enemies on both sides. John 
Randolph of Virginia. poHtely called it "a dirty bargain." 
John Quincy Adams, when his friend Calhoun threatened seces- 
sion, made perhaps the first prophecy of a civil war when he 
asked whether in such a case "the population of the North 
. . . would fall back upon its rocks bound hand and foot to 
starve, or whether it would not retain its powers of locomotion 
to move southward by land." 

186. Review 

The West began to be a vital part of the nation soon after 
1800. It was rich in land and resources, and attracted hundreds 
of thousands of immigrants. They came from the East in three 
main streams of settlement : (a) through central New York 
and along Lake Erie ; (b) through Pennsylvania and Maryland, 
overland to the headwaters of the Ohio Rivei ; (c) through or 
around the southern mountains. 

The settlement of the West was greatly aided by the use 
of steamboats on the rivers and lakes; and by the Cumber- 
land Road, Constructed by Congress to the Ohio River. The 
Erie Canal (finished in 1825) made a direct connection with 
the Great Lakes, and was for years the most important highway 
to the West ; and it built up the city of New York. 

At first the West was all frontier and suffered from the 
disadvantages of frontier Hfe, such as poverty, ignorance, and 
religious excitement. As settlement advanced, new territories 



References 281 

were created in the region north of the Ohio River under the 
Northwest Ordinance. The states of Ohio and Louisiana were 
admitted to the Union ( 1 803 ,1812). The slavery question came 
up in the territories north of the Ohio River and in older states, 
where abolition societies and agitators were at work. After 
18 1 2, the states were regularly admitted in pairs, one free and one 
slave. After a violent controversy, in Congress and throughout 
the country, an east and west line was drawn by the Missouri 
Compromise of 1820 across the Louisiana Purchase. North of 
it slavery was forever prohibited. The West was much inter- 
ested in politics and public discussion, and was well represented 
in Congress by statesmen of whom Henry Clay was the most 
distinguished. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 268, 278. — Bogart, Econ. 
Hist., 209. — Brigham, Geogr. Influences, chs. iv, v. — Fish, Am. Na- 
tionality, 137. — Johnson, Union and Democracy, 248, 253, 270, 278, 
306, 341, 344. — Semple, Geogr. Conditions, 150-168, 246-277. — Shep- 
herd, Hist. Atlas, 202, 203, 206. — Turner, New West, 70, 226, 310. — 
See Supt. of Docs., Geography and Exploration Lists. 

Secondary. Adams, U.S., IX. 148-174. — Babcock, Rise of Am. 
Nationality, ch. xv. — Bogart, Econ. Hist., 128-130, 189-212 (§§ 116, 
166-185). — Coman, Indiist. Hist., 156-174, 203-206. — Dodd, Ex- 
pansion and Conflict, ch. ii. • — Hinsdale, Old Northwest, 313-328, 
351-367, 380-392. — Johnson, Union and Democracy, 245-259, 269- 
279, 298-304. — McLaughlin, Lewis Cass, 1-33, 95-132. — McMaster, 
U.S., III. 123-142, 459-495, 516-528, IV. 381-429, 570-601, V. 13-18, 
130-137, 147-168. — Mathews, Expansion of New Engl., 178-224. — 
Roosevelt, T. H. Benton, 1-20, 32-40. — Schouler, U.S., II. 125-131, 
205-278, III. 96-103, 134-137, 178-188, 346-352. — Schurz, Henry 
Clay, I. 1-47, 137-146, 172-202. — Sparks, Expansion, 220-274. — 
Treat, Land System. — Turner, New West, chs. v-vii. 

Sources. Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 234-251, 338-369. — 
Caldwell, Survey, 142-144, 233-245. — Callender, Econ. Hist., ch. xii. — 
Hart, Contemporaries, III. §§ 1 35-1 41 ; Patriots and Statesmen, III. 
319-326, 335-337, 345-363, IV. 83-90, 145-148; Source Book, §§ 90- 
93. — James, Readings, §§57, 64-66. — Johnson, Readings, §§91-93. 
— Johnston, Am. Orations, II. 33-101. — MacDonald, Select Docs., 



282 Settling the West 

nos. 35-42. — See New Engl. Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, § ?>t, ; 
Syllabus, 342-344. 

Illustrative. Banks, Round Anvil Rock. — Bryant, Hunter of the 
Prairies. — Churchill, The Crossing. — Clemens (Mark Twain), Life on 
the Mississippi. — Cooke, Leather Stocking and Silk. — Cooper, The 
Prairie. — Eggleston, Circuit Rider. — Parrish, When Wilderness was 
King. — Riddle, Ansel's Cave. 

Pictures. Sparks, Expansion. — Wilson, Am. People, III. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Life in some one western town previous to 1830. [§ 176] — (2) Ac- 
count of a journey over one of the roads mentioned in § 177. — 
(3) Fulton's invention of the steamboat. [§ 178] — ■ (4) Construction of 
the Cumberland Road, or of the Erie Canal. [§§ 179, 180] — (5) Travel 
on the Erie Canal. [§ 180] — (6) Frontier life about 1810. [§ 181] - — 
(7) Abraham Lincoln as a boy. [§ 181] — (8) Wandering life of Benjamin 
Lundy. [§ 183] — (9) Henry Clay as Speaker of the House. [§ 184] — 

(10) The settlement of the Missouri country down to 1819. [§ 185] — • 

(11) Why was Maine made a separate state? [§ 185] 

Topics for Further Search 

(12) Early western cattle business. [§ 175] — (13) Methods of buying 
and settling public land down to i860. [§ 176] — (14) Why did Madison 
veto the Bonus Bill? [§ 180] — (15) One of the early colleges in the 
West. [§ 181] — (16) Brief history of one of the following territories: 
Indiana ; Michigan ; Illinois ; Mississippi ; Alabama ; Louisiana. 
[§ 182] — (17) Emancipation acts in New Jerse}', or in New York. 
[§ 182] — (18) External slave trade after 1789. [§ 183] — (19) Why 
did colonization of the negroes fail? [§ 183] — (20) Clay's " American 
System." [§ 184] — (21) Incidents in the debate on the Missouri 
Compromise. [§ 185] 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE NEW AMERICAS AND THE MONROE DOCTRINE 

(1806-1823) 

187. The United States as a Novelty in the World 

We have grown so accustomed to thinking of the United 
States as one of the pillars of the world that we fail to realize 
how startling was the appearance of a new member among the 
family of nations through the success of the Revolution. In 
1775 the principal powers of Europe — Spain, France, England, 
Austria, Prussia, and Russia — hardly recognized that there were 
any nations in the world outside of themselves that were en- 
titled to equal rights. The small states of Europe, such as 
Holland and Portugal, existed by their consent. Turkey, 
which then held Greece and all the Balkans, was looked upon 
as an inferior pagan state. Not a single country in Africa or 
Asia was considered to be entitled to independence if any Euro- 
pean power had the strength to conquer it. 

The two Americas were subdivided among the colonizing 
powers. Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal had nearly all the 
land, but some islands in the West Indies belonged to the 
French and to the Dutch ; and Russia was just beginning to 
lay claims in the far Northwest. 

The appearance of the United States was, therefore, a new 
thing in the world's history ; it was the first country, founded 
by Europeans, which set up for itself. By so doing it put into 
circulation the great idea that any European colonies might 
easily grow to the point where they would have a right to de- 

283 



284 The New Americas and the Monroe Doctrine 

mand a government of their own. American independence was 
also a notice served on the world that a nation was appearing 
in a new quarter of the globe, where there never had been inde- 
pendent states before. 

In addition, the new United States was the most demo- 
cratic country on earth and at once set out to teach the rest 
of the world the value of self-government. We have already 
seen how the appearance of the United States among the nations 
interfered with Napoleon's plans of conquest (§ 159). The War 
of 181 2 was the proof that this new kind of nation might be 
very disagreeable at sea. Old-fashioned Europe was disturbed 
by this upstart nation of the western hemisphere. 

188. Effect on Latin America (1806-1822) 

The example of the United States was not only disturbing, 
— it was dangerous ; for Canada, Brazil, and the Spanish colonial 
empire contained several million people who were quick to learn 
the lesson that colonies could get new privileges by threatening 
to revolt. The Spanish government especially was very un- 
easy under the prospect of colonial self-government, and there- 
fore lightened the shackles of trade for the colonies. 

Nevertheless, movements began in America which looked 
toward freedom for these colonies. A Latin American named 
Miranda landed in Venezuela in 1806 with several hundred 
men raised in the United States, and tried to revolutionize it. 
This was the first of what came to be called "filibustering" 
expeditions in aid of Latin Americans. A vain attempt was 
also made by the British to annex the colony of La Plata 
(Buenos Aires, or Argentina). These blind movements were 
much aided by the exploits of Napoleon in Europe. He de- 
scended upon Portugal in 1807, and thus caused the Portuguese 
royal family to take refuge in Brazil. The next year Napoleon 
did all that was in his power to annex Spain, intending by this 
means to bring all the Spanish colonies into the French empire. 
The Spaniards and the Spanish Americans detested the French ; 



Effect on Latin America 285 

and since for seven years the invaders remained in control of a 
great part of Spain, the colonists were left much to themselves 
and set up local governments which opened their trade to Great 
Britain and also to the United States. 

In 1 8 14 Napoleon was compelled to evacuate Spain, and the 
old royal house was restored. For a time the colonies accepted 
this " legitimate 
government," ex- 
cept La Plata, 
which, in 1816, 
formally declared 
itself independent 
and never again 
came under the 
Spanish authority. 
From the Plata 
the banner of in- 
dependence was 
carried by General 
San Martin to 
Chile and then to 
Peru. 

In the mean- 
time General 
Simon Bolivar 
had been success- 
ful in Colombia, 
which is now sub- 
divided into Ven- 
ezuela, Colombia, Latin America (1815-1830). 

and Ecuador. The only continental possessions left to Spain 
were Mexico and Central America, which declared themselves 
independent in 1821. Brazil cut loose from Portugal and 
declared itself an independent empire in 1822. The island 
of Haiti had made itself independent during the French 




286 The New Americas and the Monroe Doctrine 

Revolution. There was therefore nothing left of the Portu- 
guese, French, and Spanish colonial empires except the Spanish 
islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, some small French islands in 
the Caribbean Sea, and French Guiana. 

This recital of the bare facts leaves out of account the ro- 
mantic side of the whole episode. This period of Latin Ameri- 
can history is full of thrilling adventures, of marvelous crossings 
over high mountains, of battles on land and sea, of gallant aid 
rendered to the revolutionists by EngUshmen and Americans 
who crossed the sea to fight in their cause. To the people of 
the United States the Latin Americans seemed to be a band 
of patriots who were following the glorious example of the 
American Revolution. As a matter of fact Mexico and Brazil 
were both organized as monarchies, and in several other coun- 
tries the head of the state was nothing but a military dictator 
backed up by an army of mercenaries. The revolutions led to 
fearful civil wars and there were some frightful struggles between 
neighboring peoples who were just emerging from what they 
claimed to be the tyranny of Spain. 

189. Interest in Latin America (1806-1821) 

What was the proper action for the government of the United 
States in this unexpected change of American conditions? 
Every American President from Washington to Monroe had 
a strong sense that it was highly undesirable for the United 
States to take part in European relations or political combina- 
tions, except in necessary defense of its own neutral rights. 
This "Doctrine of Isolation" was repeatedly stated by 
Washington and was part of the policy of Jefferson and Madi- 
son. The United States had a very small army and navy, 
and notwithstanding the brief French war of 1799, the war 
with Tripoli, and the War of 181 2, the feeling of the whole 
country was that the United States was not in shape to take 
part in the combinations of European powers and policies. 

Under this spirit of noninterference with Europe, it was a 



Ambitions of the United States 287 

shorl step to the corresponding doctrine that European powers 
ought not to interfere in America. This idea was at the bottom 
of the annexation of Louisiana, which was the only way of pre- 
venting the French from getting a new foothold in our neigh- 
borhood. The United States did not deny the right of a Euro- 
pean nation to control the colonies which it already had in 
America, but greatly objected to any serious changes in its 
holdings. 

For many reasons the Latin Americans welcomed American 
trade. Spain had always been very arbitrary about the trade 
with her colonies, but during the revolution in the colonies 
Cuban trade was for the first time opened wide. The new 
Latin American states all received American vessels and mer- 
chants in their ports. The new states seemed to be reaping 
the experience of the American Revolution, and several of them 
paid the United States the compHment of imitating its repub- 
lican and its federal government. 

The natural impulse was to recognize the declarations of in- 
dependence put forth by these new governments at their face 
value. Still the United States had great ambitions in America 
and had no desire to offend Spain by recognizing states that 
might again be subdued by Spain. Hence for several years 
President Madison and President Monroe contented themselves 
with aiding to build up business in the various countries. 

190. Ambitions of the United States (1803-1821) 

Whatever their feeling about other nations annexing Ameri- 
can territory, the people of the United States had no scruples 
about certain Spanish territory which they much desired. 
From 1803 to 181 9 steps were taken to complete the control 
of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts by the annexation of three suc- 
cessive areas : (i) The coast of Louisiana, stretching indefinitely 
from the Island of Orleans westward, came in as part of the 
Louisiana cession. (2) Part of West Florida, extending from 
Louisiana to the Perdido River, was annexed by force of arms 



288 The New Americas and the Monroe Doctrine 

from i8iotoi8i3. (3) For East Florida, a treaty with Spain 
was necessary. In addition, the United States for a long time 
felt it had a good claim to Texas, and it coveted Cuba and the 
Spanish claims in Oregon, whatever they might be worth. 

Cuba remained a fixed part of the Spanish empire, although 
in 1822 an agent of some of the Cubans arrived in Washington 
and suggested that the time had come for Cuba to be inde- 
pendent. John Quincy Adams believed that the annexation 
of Cuba was certain to come, but for the time being all the 
American statesmen were willing that Cuba should remain 
Spanish, if they could be sure that it would not be transferred 
to England or to France. 

Good fortune attended the effort to secure a treaty with 
Spain, notwithstanding a bad blunder by General Andrew 
Jackson, who in 181 8 pursued hostile Indians into East Florida 
and then proceeded to capture the Spanish posts of St. Marks 
and Pensacola. The treaty, negotiated in 1819, put an end 
to the controversies about Texas, West Florida, and East 
Florida. Under it: (i) Spain for an allowance of $5,000,000 
ceded both East Florida and all claims on West Florida. (2) The 
United States ceased to urge claims to Texas, and accepted 
on the south and west an irregular line from the mouth of 
the Sabine River to the source of the Arkansas and thence 
due north to latitude 42°. (3) The Spaniards surrendered all 
claims on the Pacific coast north of the 42d parallel. 

191. Northern Boundary and the Fisheries 

The ambitions of the United States began to extend also to 
the Pacific, where in 181 8 the little post of Astoria was given 
back by the British to representatives of the United States. In 
the same year Great Britain and the United States agreed that 
the 49th parallel should be the boundary between Canada and 
the United States from the Lake of the Woods as far west as 
the Rocky Mountains. Beyond those mountains, any region 
along the northwest coast, claimed by either party, should be 



European Political System 289 

"free and open" to the subjects of both powers. This meant 
joint occupation of the Oregon country, or the whole disputed 
region between California and Russian Alaska. 

Another serious territorial question which was settled by 
the same treaty was that of the northeastern fisheries. The 
agreement made some changes in the privileges set forth in the 
treaty of 1783 (§ 108). It gave Americans the right to take 
fish inshore — that is, within a line drawn three miles from the 
low- water mark parallel with the coast — on parts of the coast 
of Newfoundland and Labrador ; also the right to dry and cure 
fish on the unsettled parts of those coasts. On the other hand, 
the United States renounced such rights on all other British 
coasts, except that American fishermen might enter harbors 
of said coasts for shelter, wood, and water, and "for no other 
purpose." This treaty is still in force. 

192. European Political System (1815-1822) 

The disturbances in Latin America greatly interested Europe. 
When Napoleon was finally defeated (181 5) and was sent to 
spend the rest of his life as a prisoner on the island of St. 
Helena, the rulers of France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, fear- 
ing that the spirit of revolution would break forth again in 
Europe, formed what was called "The Holy Alhance." They 
agreed that they would "on all occasions and in all places lend 
each other aid and assistance." Really their plan was for a 
kind of mutual insurance against revolutions. 

The benevolence of the Holy Alliance was tested in 1823, 
when the European powers by force put an end to a revolution 
in Spain against the arbitrary Bourbon king; and it was sug- 
gested that they might also end the revolutions in Spanish 
America, At about the same time (1821) the Russian govern- 
ment laid claim to the exclusive trade and occupation of -the 
northwest coast, including part of Oregon ; and both these sug- 
gestions of interference in America aroused the United States. 

For several years Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House, 



290 The New Americas and the Monroe Doctrine 

had been leading a movement for the recognition of the new 
South American states, whether or not they were really inde- 
pendent. This policy seemed to have a precedent in the 
generous conduct of France toward the American Revolution 
(§ 93). President Monroe — who was elected in 1816 — ^ held 
back from recognition but sent special agents to South America 
to report on the conditions there. 

Soon after the treaty of 18 19 (§ 190) was ratified by Spain 
(182 1), the President proposed, and Congress agreed, to recog- 
nize the principal Latin American countries (1822) ; and in 
the course of a few months ministers were exchanged between 
the United States and Colombia, Chile, La Plata, Brazil, 
Guatemala, and Mexico. Within a short time the government 
began to make commercial treaties with these powers. By 
this action the United States put itself on record as believing 
that the Latin American states had forever separated them- 
selves from their parent countries. 

After the Holy Alliance restored the tyrannical royal gov- 
ernment in Spain, a proposition was made to send out an 
expedition — presumably French — to bring back the Spanish 
colonies to their former allegiance. Great Britain, which had 
no desire to see those colonies and their trade go back to Spain, 
held off and warned the United States. At this opportune 
moment George Canning, British foreign minister, made a 
friendly suggestion (1823) to Richard Rush, our minister in 
England, to join with him in a declaration against the transfer 
of any Spanish or Portuguese state to another European power. 

193. The Monroe Doctrine (1823) 

Rush's account of the British proposition greatly stirred 
President Monroe and his Cabinet. They had to decide whether 
they would go hand in hand with Great Britain ; or whether, 
as Secretary John Quincy Adams insisted, they should make an 
independent stand. For weeks the Cabinet wrestled with these 
problems, but- in the end Monroe yielded to the stronger mind 



Immediate Results of the Doctrine 291 

of his secretary, and allowed him to draft that part of the 
message of December 2, 1823, which has been commonly called 
the "Monroe Doctrine." It contains three main statements 
on the American question : 

(i) On colonization: while speaking of the northwest coast, 
Monroe said that "the American continents, by the free and 
independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, 
are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colo- 
nization by any European powers." 

(2) On interposition : in discussing the proposed intervention 
by European powers against the Latin American states, the 
message says that "interposition for the purpose of oppress- 
ing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by 
any European power" would be considered unfriendly to the 
United States. 

(3) On the European poUtical system : the doctrine runs, 
"We should consider any attempt on their part to extend their 
system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our 
peace and safety." 

Monroe meant his doctrine to be peaceful and harmonizing. 
His argument was, in substance : (i) Since the United States 
does not interfere in European controversies, we should not 
permit third parties to interfere in the New World in quarrels 
not their own. (2) We are not hostile to existing colonies of 
European powers, but it is contrary to our interest that Latin 
American territory be conquered and occupied by foreign powers. 

The Monroe Doctrine accompUshed its purpose : all schemes 
of European intervention were given up ; and Russia forth- 
with made treaties with the United States and Great Britain, 
accepting^ as the southern boundary of Russian America the 
parallel of 54° 40' north latitude. 

194. Immediate Results or the Doctrine (1823-1826) 

John Quincy Adams was much more disposed than Monroe 
to push the doctrine to the point of making the United States 



292 The New Americas and the Monroe Doctrine 

the leader among the American states. When he became 
President in 1825, he had the opportunity of pushing that 
poUcy, and he hastily accepted an invitation from some of the 
Latin American states to meet in a congress at Panama. One 
of the purposes was to be the contriving of means for setting 
Cuba free ; and another was to come to a decision as to how 
the American repubUcs were to protect themselves against 
danger from the Holy Alliance. 

The Latin American states, however, showed themselves 
unfriendly to slavery. For these and other reasons the Senate 
held up Adams's nomination of commissioners to attend the 
congress for nearly a year, and then Adams was obliged to 
give them such instructions as to make it impossible for them 
to take the lead. This was before the days of the telegraph, 
and news traveled slowly. When the commissioners arrived at 
Panama, they found that the congress had met, with only a 
part of the Latin American states represented, and had ad- 
journed. The Latin Americans showed themselves incapable 
of forming a union of Latin states, and had the question of 
accepting the supremacy of the United States been fairly pre- 
sented to them, they would undoubtedly have declined it. 

This first opportunity of actually making the Monroe Doc- 
trine mean something definite went by, and it was more than 
twenty years before any President or Secretary of State tried 
seriously to change conditions in Latin America. Later the 
doctrine became a fixed policy of the United States, 

195. Review 

When the United States became a nation, Europe was 
shocked, for there had never before been independent civilized 
countries in North or South America. The success of the 
Revolution made the Latin American colonists discontented; 
and from time to time in 1806 to 1822, they worked and fought 
to be free from the Spanish and Portuguese home governments. 
La Plata was the first colony to secure its liberty; but be- 



References 293 

tweeii 1814 and 1822 all but Cuba and Porto Rico became 
independent. 

The "Doctrine of Isolation," first distinctly laid down by 
Washington, kept the United States out of European wars, 
but the Americans naturally preferred republican governments 
among their neighbors, and hence favored the Spanish American 
revolutionists. After the annexation of Louisiana, West Florida 
(1813), and East Florida (1819), the Spanish government in 
those parts of the world was extinguished, and there was some 
hope of annexing Cuba. Meanwhile the United States was 
trying to establish a title to Oregon and to secure fishing privi- 
leges on the northeast coast. 

The "Holy Alliance," a combination of powers in Europe, 
interfered to put down a revolution in Spain (1823), and lis- 
tened to a proposal to invade the Spanish American colonies ; 
while Russia claimed the northwest coast of North America 
(1821-1824). The United States began to recognize the Latin 
American powers in 1822. 

In 1823, Great Britain proposed a joint declaration against 
any interference in America ; instead of this President Monroe 
issued a declaration called the "Monroe Doctrine." He pro- 
tested (i) against any new European colonization in America ; 

(2) against any interposition in the Latin American states; 

(3) against any attempt to extend the European "political 
system " to America. The doctrine was aimed simply to keep 
peace in the Americas ; but the Latin American powers tried 
to induce the United States to take more positive ground in the 
Panama Congress of 1826. The Senate was opposed, and the 
United States was unable to take the lead among the new 
countries. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. — See maps, pp. 278, 285. — Babcock, 
Rise of Am. Nationality, 272, 276, 286. — Bogart, Ecoii. Hist., 287. — 
Fish, Am. Dipl., 218; Am. Nationality, 486. — Johnson, Unio)f and 
Democracy, 263, 293. — Turner, New West, 208. 
hart's new amer. hist. — 19 



294 The New Americas and the Monroe Doctrine 

Secondary. Babcock, Rise of Am. Nationality, ch. xvii. — Bassett, 
US., 347, 348, 368-371, 375-377, 383, 384; Andrew Jackson, I. chs. 
xiv-xviii, II. ch. xix. — Chadwick, U.S. and Spain, I. chs. vii-xi. — 
Fish, Am. Dip!., chs. xvi, xvii; Am. Nationality, 168-172, 179. — ■ 
Fuller, Purchase of Fla., chs. vii-xi. — Hart, Monroe Doctrine, chs. i-vi. 
— Johnson, Union and Democracy, 259-265, 289-297, 320-323. — - 
McMaster, U.S., IV. 372-376, 430-483, V. 1-54, 433-463, 483-487- — 
Morse, /. Q. Adams, 98-148. — Schouler, U.S., III. 23-26, 57-97, 
128-133, 175-178, 189, 255, 274-293, 358-366, 389-395. — Schurz, 
Henry Clay, 146-171, 267-275, 293-300. — Turner, New West, ch. xii. 

Sources. Caldwell, Terr. Development, 105-126. — Hart, Con- 
temporaries, III. §§142-150; Patriots and Statesmen, III. 327-332, 
337-345, IV. 25-49, 98-114. — Hill, Liberty Docs., ch. xx. — Mac- 
Donald, Select Docs., nos. 34, 43. — Old South Leaflets, nos. 56, 129. — 
See New Engl. Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, § 83 ; Syllabus, 344. 

Illustrative. Aimard, Queen of the Savannah (Span. Am. inde- 
pendence). — Atherton, Rezdnov (Russia in Cal.). — White, El Supremo 
(Paraguay). 

Pictures. Wilson, Am. People, III. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) What claims had Russia to the northwest coast in 1821 ? [§ 187] — 
(2) Why did the Spanish American colonies revolt? [§ 188] — (3) Wash- 
ington's " Doctrine of Isolation." [§ 189] — (4) What was the interest 
of the United States in Cuba? [§ 190] — (5) Why was Astoria restored 
to the United States? [§ 191] — (6) What was "The Holy Alliance"? 
[§ 192] — (7) Why did Monroe hesitate to recognize the Latin American 
states? [§ 192] — (8) Why did not the United States accept Canning's 
offer? [§ 193] 

Topics for Further Search 

(9) How did the French get their islands in the West Indies? [§ 187] — 
(10) How did the Dutch get their holdings in the West Indies and 
South America? [§ 187] — (11) How did Haiti become independent? 
[§ 188] — (12) Miranda's expeditions of 1806. [§ 188] — (13) Account 
of General Simon Bolivar. [§ 188] — (14) Ought the United States to 
have joined in the Panama Congress? [§ 194] 



CHAPTER XVIII 
GROWTH OF NATIONAL SPIRIT (1815-1830) 

196. Effect of the War of 181 2 on the Nation 

Notwithstanding the defeats and the humiliations of the 
War of 181 2, the United States came out of it with a new idea 
of what it might do as a nation, both within its own boundaries 
and as one of the countries of the world. The war and the 
long difficulties before it had made people realize the need 
of national finances, and of national relations with business. 

The currency was in bad condition because the Bank of the 
United States (§ 141) had been allowed to expire in 181 1, and 
the business of banking and of issuing paper money was left 
to banks chartered by the states. Many of th6m were frauds, 
many others were badly managed, and the country was full of 
paper notes which could not be redeemed in specie. 

The course of business had been altered by the interruption 
of commerce. Some of the accumulation of profits, both from 
shipping and from other sources, went into cotton, woolen, and 
iron mills, especially in New England and the middle states. 
The manufactures of the United States came nearer supplying 
the market than at any previous time in the history of the 
country. Naturally, the manufacturers were anxious to keep 
these advantages. The difficulty of getting troops and supplies 
to the frontier aroused the country to the need of new lines 
of transportation with improved highways and waterways. 
Among the wealthy business men of this period the best 
known was Stephen Girard of Philadelphia, merchant ship- 

29s :^ 



296 Growth of National Spirit 

owner and founder of 
Girard College. 

Above all, there was a 
feeling that the United 
States was worth while. 
Whatever the defects 
of the army in the 
recent war, the navy / 
belonged to no section 
but was a national serv- 
ice, and the whole 
country could rejoice 
in its success. Even 
"strict construction- 
ists" — statesmen like 
Jefferson and Madison, 
who had written the 
Virginia and Kentucky 
Resolutions (§ 152) — 

now felt that the nation was more important than the states, 

and supported a liberal use of national powers. 

197. The Tariff and the Second Bank (1816) 

One of the first national questions to come up was that of the 
relation of the federal government to American manufacturers. 
As soon as the war was over, there came a rush of importations 
which greatly interfered with the little American mills that 
had been recently constructed for weaving coarse cottons and 
woolens. The import duties had been doubled when the war^ 
broke out, and for a time the home manufactures had had al- 
most a monopoly of the market. If now the import duties were 
allowed to go back to the old scale, it seemed more than the 
home manufacturers could stand. 

The result was the tariff of April 27, 18 16, passed by test 
votes of 25 to 7 in the Senate, and 88 to 54 in the House — a 




Stephen Girard. 



The Tariff and the Second Bank 



297 



tariff which now seems very low, but at the time was thought 
highly protective. The average rate of duties on dutiable goods 
in 1811 was about 15 per cent; by the tariff of 1816 it was 
made 20 per cent. The new tariff was supported by a com- 
bination of three interests: (i) New England and middle 
states manufacturers; (2) western farmers under the leader- 
ship of Henry Clay ; (3) South Carolina planters under John 
C. Calhoun, who interested 




his constituents in the hope 
of building up cotton manu- 
factures in South Carolina. 
The strongest opponent was 
John Randolph of Virginia, 
who said the only question 
was, "Whether you, as a 
planter, will consent to be 
taxed, in order to hire an- 
other man ... to set up a 
spinning jenny." 

Another evidence of na- 
tional feeling was the charter 
of the second United States 
Bank. Till 181 1 the notes 
of the United States Bank 

and the banks chartered by the states circulated alongside 
gold and silver coin, in which the good banks redeemed 
their notes whenever presented. After the capture of Wash- 
ington (§ 170) all the state banks, except those of New Eng- 
land, " suspended specie payments of their notes," so that state 
bank notes became the only currency. By an act of April 10, 
1 81 6, a second United States Bank was chartered by Congress, 
with what was then thought the enormous capital of $35,00.0,000, 
of which the United States was to own one fifth. The main 
public services expected of the bank were: (i) to furnish a 
sound paper currency, and to induce the state banks to pay 



State Vote on the Tariff of 1S16. 



298 Growth of National Spirit 

their notes in specie ; (2) to act as financial agent of the govern- 
ment in receiving and paying money; (3) to hold on deposit 
the government balance, which ranged from $3,ooo,roo to 
$10,000,000. After one false start, the bank established 
branches far and wide, and did a large and profitable business. 

I'^iS. John Marshall and the Supreme Court (1801-1819) 

This vigorous use of the powers of Congress was warmly 
supported by the third department of the federal government, 
the courts, under the guidance of Chief Justice John Marshall, 
Marshall was born in 1755, served as a captain in the Revolu- 
tionary War, studied law, and sat in the state legislature and in 
the Virginia ratifying convention of 1788. In 1797 he became 
a Federalist member of the House, then Secretary of State, and 
near the end of John Adams's term was appointed Chief Jus- 
tice, and held that high office until his death in 1835. 

Marshall is one of the most interesting of Americans. He 
was a simple householder who often carried home his own tur- 
key from market, a renowned expert in the game of quoits, 
an upright Christian gentleman. His colleague. Story, said of 
him: "I love his laugh, . . . it is too hearty for an intriguer, 
and his good temper and unwearied patience are equally agree- 
able on the bench and in the study." Yet he was the greatest 
of American jurists, and his main service was to take advan- 
tage of cases which happened to come before the Supreme 
Court to set forth clearly, logically, and irresistibly the true 
principles of the federal Constitution ; and he so influenced 
five judges appointed by Jefferson and Madison that they 
agreed with him. 

Many of the cases decided by Marshall are landmarks in the 
history of the United States, because they clearly state the loose- 
construction theory of the federal government, to which Congress, 
the President, and the Supreme Court all gave their sanction. 

(i) The Supreme Court undertook to keep the states from 
encroaching on what the court believed to be the rightful 



Parties and Elections 299 

powers of Congress. To this end, it declared that certain state 
statutes were void and not binding, because they were contrary 
to the federal Constitution (especially Fletcher vs. Peck, 18 10). 
In another famous case (Dartmouth College case, 1819) the 
court insisted that a charter granted to a private corporation 
was a "contract" which the states were forbidden by the fed- 
eral Constitution to repeal or alter. When the state courts 
tried to prevent these decisions by refusing to allow cases to 
be carried upon appeal, the federal Supreme Court took juris- 
diction even in cases where states were parties (case of Cohens 
vs. Virginia, 182 1). 

(2) On the other hand, the court strongly sustained the 
implied powers of Congress by giving effect to the bank and 
other acts that were questioned by the states (especially 
McCulloch vs. Maryland, 1819). 

"Let the end be legitimate," said Marshall, "let it be within 
the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appro- 
priate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not 
prohibited but consist with the letter and spirit of the Consti- 
tution, are constitutional." 

199. Parties and Elections (1816-1824) 

Most of the great decisions came during the administration 
of Madison's successor, James Monroe, who was chosen Presi- 
dent in 1 81 6 over the Federalist Rufus King, by 183 electoral 
votes to 34. Monroe, notwithstanding long experience as 
diplomat and Cabinet officer, was overshadowed by four young 
Republican statesmen, each of whom had a just ambition to 
be President. They were : Henry Clay, Speaker of the House 
and always a critic of the President's policy ; John Quincy 
Adams, Secretary of State, the strongest spirit in the admin- 
istration ; John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, then an ardent 
nationalist or supporter of strong federal government ; and 
William H. Crawford of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury, a 
keen politician, 



300 Growth of National Spirit 

The Republican party by this time accepted most of the old 
Federalist doctrines, such as implied powers, and the old party 
spirit ceased. The great questions before the people came in 
such issues as the Missouri Compromise (§ 185) and internal im- 
provements. Monroe was reelected without opposition in 
1820, and by 1822 the Federalist party had died out. Hence 
the period got the name of the " Era of Good Feeling," though 
in reality it was full of jealousy, intrigue, and disagreement. 

As the presidential election of 1824 approached, the alleged 
" Era of Good Feeling " disappeared. Crawford got the coveted 
nomination by a caucus of Republican members of Congress ; but 
that way of making nominations had grown unpopular. Other 
candidates were put forward by a new method of nomination 
by state legislatures — • John Quincy Adams in New England, 
Henry Clay in Kentucky and several other western states, 
and Andrew Jackson in Tennessee. Calhoun accepted the 
almost unopposed nomination for Vice President. 

Of all these nominations the most unexpected was that of 
Andrew Jackson. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, born in 
1767 among the poor whites of the Carolinas. He studied 
law and went out to Tennessee in 1788, and was successively 
public prosecutor, member of Congress (1796), and federal 
senator (1797), then judge of the supreme court of Tennessee. 
Always a testy man, he lived in a part of the country where 
private warfare was thought a fine thing ; he fought several 
duels and killed one man. He commanded at New Orleans 
in 18 1 5, and in Indian campaigns from 1817 to 181 9. 

200. President John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) 

The campaign of 1824 was hot and bitter and full of per- 
sonalities. The electoral votes turned out to be 99 for Jackson, 
84 for Adams, 41 for Crawford, and 37 for Henry Clay. Since 
no one had a majority of electoral votes, the choice went to the 
House of Representatives, where Adams was elected by the vote 
of 13 states to 7 for Jackson and 4 for Crawford (February 9, 



Controversy over the Tariff 301 

1825). The Jackson men insisted that inasmuch as their can- 
didate had more electoral votes than Adams, the "will of the 
people" was defeated; and a friend of Jackson also brought 
forward the unfounded charge that Adams had bought his 
election by promising to make Clay Secretary of State. Jack- 
son seems never to have doubted the truth of this slander. 

No man of his time was better qualified than John Quincy 
Adams, by character and training, for his great office. As 
Federalist senator from Massachusetts in 1807, he voted for 
Jefferson's embargo, and was thereupon dropped by his own 
party. He became a Republican, minister to Russia, one of 
the peace commissioners at Ghent, minister to England, and 
from 1817 to 1825 was Secretary of State. Adams was by nature 
an expansionist. He would have liked to annex Canada ; he 
was especially interested in Cuba ; he wanted to buy Texas ; 
he got rid of both the Spanish and the Russian claims to the 
Oregon region ; and he went farther than Monroe in his interest 
in our Spanish American neighbors. 

A methodical, able, and hard-working President, just and 
honorable in all his public and private relations, Adams was 
cold in manner, and had few close and warm friends. After 
he retired from the presidency, he was elected to the House 
(1830) and spent seventeen years there, in which he revealed 
magnificent j)owcr as a debater and became the champion of 
the North. 

201. Controversy over the Tariff (i 824-1828) 

The tariff of 181 6 did not bring prosperity to the country; 
for the duties were not high enough to shut out foreign goods, 
and hence did not wholly suit the manufacturers. In 1824 a 
tariff was passed by narrow majorities in both houses (May 22), 
which raised duties somewhat, and for the first time taxed 
certain raw materials of New England manufactures. The 
strongest northern opponent of this tariff was Daniel Webster, 
niember from a "shipowning district, who declared that "the 



302 Growth of National Spirit 

general sense of this age sets, with a strong current, in favor of 
freedom of commercial intercourse, and unrestrained individual 
action." The great champion of the tariff was Henry Clay, 
who argued for what he called the "American System." 

A strong and persistent objection to protective tariffs, whether 
high or low, made itself felt in the South, where the hopes 

of estabhshing manufactures 
with slave labor had come to 
nothing. In 1828 a new 
tariff bill was introduced into 
Congress, and was now sup- 
ported by Webster on the 
ground that his constituents 
had .in good faith changed 
their investments over to 
manufactures. The oppo- 
nents of the bill helped to 
amend it by raising the duties 
on raw materials, in the ex- 
pectation that many friends 
of the bill would vote against 
it in its amended form. It 
therefore became known as 
the " Tariff of Abominations." Nevertheless, it became a law 
(May 19, 1828), and the average rate of duty paid on dutiable 
goods rose from 36 per cent in 1826 to 49 per cent in 1830 — 
the highest tariff in the United States even to the period of 
the Civil War. 

Protests rained upon Congress. The Boston moneyed men 
protested ; southern legislatures protested ; most important of 
all. South Carolina and John C. Calhoun protested. Calhoun 
was at first a strong advocate of a national bank, a tariff, and 
internal improvements, in the confidence that the federal 
government would help develop his own state of South Caro- 
lina. Gradually he came to seg that Congress could do little 




i^TATE \'OTE Orv THE TARIFF OF 1828. 



Election of Andrew Jackson 303 

for a state like his, which had no manufactures and which de- 
pended on slave labor. 

In 1828 Calhoun wrote a long paper called The Exposition, 
in which he argued that any protective tariff was unconstitu- 
tional, and that any state had a right to "nullify" a federal 
law which it thought unconstitutional. 

202. Election of Andrew Jackson (1828) 

In spite of the vigor and ability of John Quincy Adams, his 
administration was almost a failure because the Jackson men did 
everything they could to prevent his plans from going through. 
They delayed the nomination of commissioners for the Panama 
Congress (§ 194) ; they blocked Adams's excellent plans for 
internal improvements that would help the nation ; they at- 
tacked his personal character. The truth is that there was 
a lack of questions which really divided the nation. In 1827 
an Antimasonic party was founded, but it never became very 
large; opposition to freemasonry was not an issue upon which 
the nation could be divided. Even the tariff of 1828, though it 
brought out rivalry between North and South, did not lead to 
the foundation of new political parties. 

In the election of 1828 the only candidates for the presidency 
were Adams and Jackson ; and the only vital issue was the 
personal one, whether Adams was a good man who deserved 
reelection, or Jackson was a representative of the people 
who ought to supplant him. Adams was the subject of 
scurrilous campaign Hterature; it was charged "that he 
was rich ; that he was in debt ; that he had long enjoyed 
pubhc office." On the other side an Adams man printed 
a "coffin handbill," charging Jackson with the illegal execu- 
tion of six men thirteen years before on a technical charge 
of desertion. 

Jackson's election was almost assured in advance by a com- 
bination of the West and South with Pennsylvania and New 
York. A majority of the electoral votes in New York was 



364 Growth of National Spirit 

turned over to Jackson by Martin Van Buren, a wily states- 
man who was head of the "Albany Regency," the first well 
organized poHtical "machine." Jackson was elected by 178 
electoral votes to 83 ; and his popular vote was about 650,000 
to 500,000 for Adams. As an enthusiastic friend and admirer 
of Jackson says, "General Jackson was therefore triumphantly 
elected President of the United States in the name of reform and 
as the standard bearer of the people." 

203. Review 

During the fifteen years after the close of the War of 181 2, 
all sections of the Union called upon Congress to create a new 
financial and economic system ; for business and public finance 
were in bad condition. The principal results of this pressure 
were : 

(i) The tariff of t8i6. 

(2) The second United States Bank of 1816. 

(3) A series of decisions by the Supreme Court which were 
intended to curb the states, sustain the doctrine of implied 
powers, and give general effect to the national feeling. 

Monroe, elected President in 1816, surrounded himself with a 
very strong Cabinet, including John Quincy Adams, Calhoun, 
and Crawford. There was no opposition to his reelection in 
1820, and the Federalist party shortly died out. In 1824 there 
were four candidates. Clay, Crawford, Jackson, and Adams; 
there being no majority of electors, the choice went to the House 
of Representatives, where Adams was chosen. 

The protective tariff of 181 6 satisfied nobody, and every 
four years thereafter new tariffs were introduced, of which 
two, those of 1824 and 1828, were passed. Great opposition 
arose in the South, particularly in South Carolina, against the 
"Tariff of Abominations" of 1828. Nevertheless the tariff 
was not an element in the election of 1828, which was a 
personal contest between Jackson and Adams. Jackfjon was 
elected. 



References and Topics 305 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. Dodd, Expansion and Conflict, i&. — John- 
son, Union, and Democracy, 314, 328. — Turner, New West, 6, 232, 242, 
260. 

Secondary. Adams, U.S., IX. 105-148, 188-197. — Babcock, 
Rise of Am. Nationality, chs. xi-xiv. — Bassett, U.S., 345-349, 357- 
368, 377-390. — Coman, Indiist. Hist., 184-203. — Dewey, Financial 
Hist., §§ 66-80. — Dodd, Expansion and Conflict, ch. i. — Johnson, Union. 
and Democracy, 231-244, 266-269, 307-320, 324-345. — Lodge, Daniel 
Webster, 60-166. — ■ McMaster, U.S., IV. 280-372, 376-380, 484-521, 
V. 55-81, 109-120, 488-519. — Morse, /. Q. Adams, 148-224. — Schou- 
le.r, U.S., II. 447-463, III. 1-450 passim. — Schurz, Henry Clay, I. 
126-321 passim. — Shepard, Martin Van Buren, chs. iv, v. — Stan- 
wood, Am. Tariff Controversies, I. 11 1-348; Presidency, I. chs. ix-xii. — 
Thayer, John Marshall. — Turner, Neio West, chs. i, ix, xi, xiv-xvi, 
xviii, xix. — Wilson, Division and Reunion, §§ 8-10, 25-27. 

Sources. Kvaes, State Docs, on Fed. Relations, 89-113, 133-157. — 
Beard, Readings, §§ 46-48. — Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 309- 
321, 493. — Callender, Econ. Hist., ch. x. — Hart, Contemporaries, III. 
§§130, 132-134; Patriots and Statesmen, III. 365-383, IV. 13-133 
passim. — Hill, Liberty Docs., ch. xix. — Johnson, Readings, §§ 77, 78, 
87-90. — MacDonald, Select Docs., nos. 33, 44, 45. — See New Engl. 
Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, § 83; Syllabus, 341. 

Pictures. Wilson, Am. People, III. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Early cotton, or woolen, or iron mills. [§ 196] — (2) John Mar- 
shall as a boy and young man. [§ 198] — (3) Justices of the Supreme 
Court from 1789 to 1830. [§ 198] — (4) Public services of James 
Monroe previous to 181 7. [§ 199] — (5) John Quincy Adams, or Andrew 
Jackson, or Martin Van Buren, as a boy and 3'oung man. [§ 199] — 
(6) Antimasonic party. [§ 202] 

Topics for Further Search 

(7) Wildcat banks before 1830. [§ 196] — (8) Debate on the tariff 
of 1816, or on the second United States Bank, or on the tariff of 1824, 
or on the " Tariff of Abominations." [§§197,201] — (9) Was the first, or 
the second. United States Bank a good thing? [§ 197] — (10) Daniel 
Webster's part in the Dartmouth College case. [§ 198] — (11) Daniel 
Webster's speeches in Congress. [§ 201] 



CHAPTER XIX 
SOCIAL AND SECTIONAL CONDITIONS (1829-1841) 

204. Humane Sentiment 

The first half of the nineteenth century, from 1800 to 1850, 
both in Europe and in the United States, was full of a splendid 
spirit of moral reform. One of the results of the American and 
French revolutions was to sweep away the old belief that things 
must be right because they existed. The influence of the 
principle of equality was to upset social arrangements that 
thrust part of the people down under the feet of another part. 
The serfs in Germany were emancipated. The antislavery 
forces in Great Britain compelled Parliament to pass a gradual 
emancipation act for her colonies in America, and this led to 
complete emancipation in 1837. In 1832 a British "Reform 
Act" was passed which destroyed many abuses and extended 
the suffrage in Great Britain to the middle class. In spite of 
the Holy Alliance, the Uttle states of Germany and Italy began 
to demand that they should be allowed to govern themselves 
Greece revolted from Turkey, and by the aid of Great Britain, 
France, and Russia, became an independent kingdom (1827). 
In 1830 there was a second French revolution, which succeeded 
in driving out the Bourbon king and enthroning a king of the 
Orleans family, who ruled under a liberal constitution. 

The same spirit was at work in the United States, beginning 
with the movement against slavery and the slave trade as far 
back as 1777 (§ 112). Public attention was also called to ter- 
rible abuses in the treatment of other poor, weak, and friendless 

306 



Religious Reform 307 

classes. In the twenties and thirties, for example, societies 
were formed against imprisonment for debt ; and their cause 
was much strengthened by such incidents as that of an old 
Revolutionary soldier who had been in jail for seven years 
because he was unable to pay a debt of less than five dollars. 
The conditions of the children in the cities were found to be bad, 
especially the large numbers who were working in factories, and 
who sometimes spent twelve hours out of the twenty-four within 
the walls of their place of labor. How did the American people 
deal with these and similar difficulties? 

205. Religious Reform 

In the United States at least three influences — religious, 
political, and social — were at work side by side to lead men to 
a more kindly and humane spirit toward their fellows. The 
influence of religion and of the organized churches was far-reach- 
ing. The Christian and Jewish churches agreed in holding 
that all human beings were born with the same dignity, the same 
rights in the eyes of God, and the same share in salvation. 
Therefore the Indians and the negroes and the poor and igno- 
rant white people were all entitled to the privilege of hear- 
ing the gospel preached. There was an active missionary 
spirit for the benefit of the Indians, among whom there had 
been missions ever since the founding of the colonies. Another 
similar movement was that for home missions on the frontier, 
among those settlers who would otherwise grow up without 
churches and religious teaching. The Sunday School move- 
ment, which was first organized by Robert Raikes in England, 
spread to this country and became an essential part of the 
church organization of nearly all Protestant bodies. 

A large part of the Christian church held the doctrine that 
the heathen whom the message of salvation never reached 
were doomed to everlasting punishment, and that made it a 
solemn duty to spread the tidings as far as possible. For this 
purpose arose a great movement for foreign missions. The 



3o8 



Social and Sectional Conditions 



Catholic Church had always had a missionary organization, and 
the system was now taken up by the Protestant denominations. 
In 1806, a few students of Williams College, taking shelter under 

a haystack, agreed to enter 
on missions among the 
heathen in foreign lands. 
The idea spread rapidly, 
and in the course of a few 
years most of the national 
churches had regular 
boards which were in 
charge of active missions 
in the Hawaiian Islands, 
in Africa, and, as soon as 
China and Japan were 
opened up, in those coun- 
tries. 

Within the churches new 
duties were assumed, new 
societies were founded, and 
several denominations were 
divided. The Unitarian 
movement in New Eng- 
land broke up the Congre- 
gational Church into two 
parts commonly called Unitarian and Trinitarian, or Orthodox. 
The Presbyterian Church, in 1837, split on doctrinal questions 
into ''New School" and "Old School." The Methodist 
Church, in 1844, divided into a northern and a southern 
church, and the Baptist Church also showed a disposition to 
divide. The Catholic Church was much increased by steady 
immigration, especially from Ireland and Germany. 

A remarkable new organization, commonly called the Mor- 
mon Church, was founded by Joseph Smith of Palmyra, New 
York, in 1829. In 1830 he published what he called the Book 




Haystack Monument, Williamstown, 
Massachusetts. 



Political and Humane Reform 309 

of Mormon, which he alleged to be a miraculously preserved 
account of the settlement of America by the lost tribes of 
Israel. He and his followers built a temple at Kirtland, Ohio ; 
in 1837 moved to Missouri ; and soon after to Nauvoo, Illinois, 
where they built up a city of ten thousand adherents. The 
neighborhood disliked the Mormons, and Smith was killed by 
a mob in 1844. Three years later most of the Mormons 
moved to Utah, then an unoccupied part of Mexico. 

206. Political and Humane Reform 

Another influence was that of the doctrine of the rights of 
man as set forth in declarations, laws, and constitutions of the 
Revolution and later times. Thinking men began to realize 
that workmen were not really free, because the courts would 
punish them if they made a combination to raise wages. The 
conditions of working people in mines and factories were often 
very bad, and the employment of children in factory labor had 
begun. These difficulties could be most conveniently reached 
by state laws. 

Perhaps a stronger influence was that of the many societies 
based on the new spirit of humanity, which was shocked by the 
cruelty of labor systems all over the world, and by the harsh 
treatment of prisoners for debt and those confined as criminals. 
To better the condition of these and other sufferers, societies 
were formed : some of them local, some of them national, some 
of them with a sort of federal organization of local societies which 
sent delegates to an annual national meeting. These organiza- 
tions were very effective in creating public sentiment by hold- 
ing meetings, publishing papers, printing tracts and books, and 
petitioning the legislatures. 

A class of professional reformers arose, men and women who 
spent their lives in urging reforms, and who traveled about the 
country making converts to their causes. Some had paid em- 
ployment as secretaries and managers of societies. Some freely 
gave both their time and their means. They did their best, 
■hart's new amee. hist. — 20 



3IO 



Social and Sectional Conditions 



without much effect, to induce the churches to take strong 
ground in favor of such causes as temperance and antislavery. 
They invited foreign agitators to come over ; they engaged 
reformed criminals to warn their countrymen against crime ; 
they organized and agitated and created public opinion to their 
hearts' content. 

207. Reforms Accomplished 

The basis of these moverrients was a new conception of the 
responsibility of the state and local governments for the welfare 
of the people. Concern was felt even for the condition of slaves 
and of convicts, who had previously been looked upon as al- 
most outside of the pale of humanity. People began to see that 
brutality to prisoners leads to brutality to free men, and that 

punishment is useless un- 
less it leads to reform. 
The first modern prison in 
America was the Eastern 
Penitentiary at Philadel- 
phia (finished just before 
1830), where, in order to 
prevent one criminal from 
contaminating another, the 
I risoners were shut up in 
separate cells. In the 
course of the twenties and 
t' irties all the states and 
the federal government 
passed laws releasing 
debtors who had nothing 
with which to pay. 
Hospitals, clean and well-kept poorhouses, orphan asylums, 
and institutions for the deaf, dumb, and blind, also began to 
appear ; and in 1841 came forward a great woman, Dorothea 
Dix, who made it the object of her life to persuade people that 




Dorothea bix in 1850. 
engraving.) 



(I'fom an 



Educational Reform 311 

it was the duty of the state governments to provide pubHc asy- 
lums for the care of the insane. 

Up to about 1840 spirituous Hquor was used freely by all 
classes : harvest hands received it ; it was a part of the regular 
ration at sea; and it was 
often served even at funer- 
als. The Washingtonian 
societies, founded in 1840, 
agreed to use liciuor only 
in moderation, and from 
that it was a short step 
to total abstinence, and in 
1851 to the ''Maine Law," 
the first of the state pro- 
hibition laws. 

A strong movement 
began about 1830 for 
" Woman's Rights," in 
which Frances Wright, 
and later Lucy Stone, 
Susan B. Anthony, and 
others were leaders. Their 
demand for good schools 
for girls was heard ; girls 
were admitted to the pub- 
lic schools, then into high 

schools; academies were founded for them; and in 1833 
Oberlin College was opened to women. The movement soon 
spread to a demand for woman suffrage, which, however, 
was nowhere granted till more than a generation later. Mrs. 
Bloomer tried in vain to introduce a new ladies' costume. 




Lady in Bloomer Costume. 



208. Educational Reform 

The idea underlying ail these reform movements and methods 
was that the world was steadily improving and that by a vig- 



312 Social and Sectional Conditions 

orous effort of the men and women of good will, it could be 
rapidly brought to perfection. All the heathen were to be 
converted ; all the forces for evil in our own country were to 
be destroyed; free government, free conscience, and free dis- 
cussion were to make the United States the best and happiest 
land that the world had ever seen. Virtue, however, needed 
to be backed by intelligence, and hence the reform movement 
early applied itself to the schools of the country. 

The states of New York and Pennsylvania now adopted the 
system of general public schools supported by taxation. The 
old theory was that schooling was like the use of roads and 
bridges — the people who want them ought to pay for them. 
That idea was supplanted by the great conception that the 
state ought to provide for the education of all the children 
because a state made up of educated people is stronger and 
more efficient. Hence childless people and corporations were 
required to pay school taxes exactly like the heads of large 
families. 

This movement did not much affect the southern states, 
where the boys of well-to-do families were educated in private 
schools, and till years later there was no adequate system outside 
of town and city public schools. Even in the states that had 
longest enjoyed the public school system, the schools were 
doing poor work. 

Massachusetts, under the guidance of Horace Mann, woke 
up in 1837 to the fact that she had wretched schoolhouses, dull 
textbooks, untrained teachers, and ill-disciplined pupils. 
Public sentiment was aroused in the state, the school system 
was improved, the people began to tax themselves more freely, 
and a state Board of Education was formed. The first normal 
school for the training of teachers was established in 1839. 
These ideas spread from state to state. 

The system of state universities was developed in 1825 by 
the founding of the University of Virginia (in which Jefferson 
was specially interested), the first American institution on the 



Growth of American Literature 313 

German model, offering a variety of elective studies. In the 
thirties Michigan established the so-called " Epistemiad," 
which developed into a state university. In 1837 there were 
over seventy-five endowed colleges in the country, besides 
twelve state universities and various kinds of special and tech- 
nical schools. West Point Military Academy was founded 
in 1802, the Naval Academy in 1846, and law and medical 
schools by 1840 were numerous. 

This was also a period of the foundation or enlargement of 
libraries — the Astor in New York, the Mercantile in Philadel- 
phia, the Athenaeum in Boston, and many others! Museums 
of art and science were opened in many cities, and the lyceum 
system of public lectures brought into towns and villages the 
most eminent men of the time. 



209. Growth of American Literature 

Until about 1830 most of the American essays, poems, novels, 
and criticisms were simply imitations of English writers. Even 
Washington Irving was, intellectually, an Englishman of the 
school of Addison and Goldsmith, but he sought American 
subjects, and his Knickerbocker' s History oj New York (pub- 
lished 1809) is 
one of the most 
delightful of 
American sat- 
ires. Of nov- 
elists the only 
widely known 
American at 
that time was 
James Feni- 
more Cooper, ^__^ 



who began in '^^^^^S^^^^^^^^^^iB^^''- 

I02I to publish SUNNYSIDE, WASHINGTON IrVING's HoME AT TaRRY- 

his entrancing town, New York. 




314 Social and Sectional Conditions 

novels of Indian life and character. In 1833 Edgar Allan Poe 
began his wonderful tales. William Cullen Bryant in 181 1, 
when seventeen years old, touched the height of his genius 
in his poem of Thanatopsis. Other great writers, such as 
Hawthorne and Lowell, though they began to publish at this 
time, reached their zenith later. A school of American his- 
torians arose with the bold undertaking of George Bancroft 
to write the history of America from the beginnings, of which 
the first volumes came out in 1834; and a little later (1837) 
appeared William H. Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella. An- 
other important book was the first edition of Noah Webster's 
American Dictionary of the English Language, published in 
1828. 

Educated Americans were great readers of the English quar- 
terly reviews; and in 181 5 was established the North American 
Review, for many years an intellectual force. Newspapers began 
to improve, and between 1833 and 1841 were founded the New 
York Daily Sun, the first one-cent newspaper; the New York 
Herald, which set a standard in the search for news; and 
Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, an example of breezy per- 
sonal journalism. They were reenforced in 1849 by the Asso- 
ciated Press, which furnished information to a great number of 

papers. 

210. Slave Life 

The spirit of social reform extended very slowly to the South, 
which was not kindly disposed to new ideas that might upset 
its rigid class system. The 3,700,000 whites of the South in 
1830 were divided into three social strata: (i) At the summit 
stood from 25,000 to 30,000 members of the families of large 
slaveholders; in a few cases one master owned as many as a 
thousand slaves. These people were the social and political 
aristocracy; they furnished the governors, the judges, the 
representatives in Congress, and the senators. (2) About 
630,000 people belonged to families each holding from one to 
four slaves ; together with perhaps 500,000 prosperous nonslave- 



Slave Life 



315 



holding white farmers, they made up the active working com- 
munity. (3) The poor whites, numbering about 2,500,000, 
had neither slaves nor property, except rough land and miser- 
able buildings. Outside of some mountain communities they 
never dreamed of using their votes against the slaveholding 
aristocracy. 

Below all the .whites were 180,000 free negroes, a despised 
and unhappy class, without political rights, held responsible 
for most of the petty 
crimes, and not allowed to 
move about freely. At 
the bottom of society were 
2;ooo,ooo African slaves, 
the people from whose 
physical toil came most 
of the wealth and conse- 
quence of their masters. 

On the conditions of 
slave life there is an im- 
mense mass of conflict- 
ing testimony. Fanny 
Kemble, English wife of 
a Georgia planter, 
complained of sick slave 
women "prostrate on the 
earth, without bedstead, bed mattress, or pillow." She saw 
her husband's slaves, including sick women, going to the 
field in gangs, each with a slave driver armed with a whip. 
She saw a perfectly faithful slave given over to a new master 
who, in a few hours, was to carry him away forever from his 
father, mother, and wife. 

At the other extreme is the picture of slavery in Virginia 
drawn by such writers as Pollard in his Black Diamonds — 
the white and the black boys growing up together, friends and 
playmates ; the master listening to the complaints of his slaves ; 




Fanny Kemble, about 1830. 



3i6 Social and Sectional Conditions 

and the white mistress, sweet and stately, counseHng the young 
and protecting the aged. "I love the simple and unadulterated 
slave, with his geniality, his mirth, his swagger, and his non- 
sense ; I love to look upon his countenance, shining with con- 
tent and grease; I love to study his affectionate heart." 

These views conflict, but are not contradictory, for there 
were many kinds of slavery. On some plantations the slaves 
were felt to be members of the family ; on other plantations the 
life of the slaves was a round of dull misery, lighted up by a 
few jollifications. The house slaves were well fed, had light 
tasks, and were often petted by their masters ; the field slaves 
were often overworked and abused. The right to own a slave 
included the right to sell him, and there was no legal obliga- 
tion to sell families together. Heartbreaking scenes came at the 
auction block ; yet the next day the slave, torn from his family, 
might be cheerfully fiddHng on his way to the dreaded far South. 

211. Slavery Controversy (1831-1850) 

Slavery had been under discussion in both North and South 
for fifty years ; but for various reasons it came sharply to the 
front after 1830: 

(i) The slaves were not contented, as was shown by three 
risings: the Gabriel insurrection in Virginia in 1800; a plan 
to destroy Charleston, formed in 1820 by Denmark Vesey, a 
free negro ; and a bloody ^insurrection in Southampton, Vir- 
ginia (1831), under Nat Turner, a slave. 

(2) The South was bent on expanding the boundg,ries and the 
influence of slavery, and enlarging the profits of slave labor; 
the result was the appearance of northern men, like John Quincy 
Adams, who protested against the extension of slavery. 

(3) The free states grew in population so that after 1833 
they had 141 representatives in Congress, as against 99 from 
the slave states (§ 183). 

(4) The method of reform through societies extended to the 
slavery question. Though the southern abolition movement 



Slavery Controversy 317 

(§ 183) suddenly collapsed about the year 1830, within ten years 
one thousand northern abolition societies were formed with 
about 40,000 members ; and they demanded the immediate 
and absolute emancipation of all the slaves. 

Two kinds of people, often not clearly separate, took ground 
against slavery: the antislavery men, who would have been 




At Work in a Cotton Field. 



satisfied to prevent its extension ; and the abolitionists, who 
wanted to destroy it where it already existed. Among the 
abolitionists there were three groups : western, middle states, 
and New England, (i) The western abolition societies were 
started chiefly by former slaveholders, who crossed the Ohio 
River to get away from the system. Such were Rev. John 
Rankin and James G. Birney. (2) The middle states abolition- 
ists were strong in Philadelphia, the city of New York, and 



3i8 Social and Sectional Conditions 

central New York state, and included men like Arthur and 
Louis Tappan and Gerrit Smith, who had money and freely 
gave it for the cause. (3) The New England group included the 
most brilliant opponents of slavery, such as Wendell Phillips, 
the abolition orator; John Greenleaf Whittier, the aboHtion 
poet ; Theodore Parker, the abolition parson ; and later James 
Russell Lowell, the abolition satirist. 

Among the hundreds of northern agitators, William Lloyd 
Garrison, by his intense devotion to the cause, has somehow 
come to be accepted as the typical abolitionist, although he 
differed with everybody else, and always represented the ex- 
tremest principles. Garrison was born at Newburyport, Massa- 
chusetts (1805), became a printer, and wandered about the 
country. In 1830 he went to jail in Baltimore for too freely 
criticizing a slave trader. In January, 1831, Garrison founded 
in Boston a little paper which he called the Liberator, and which 
speedily became one of the best-known and worst-hated papers 
in the country. From the platform of principles which he 
published in the first number, he never swerved throughout his 
life. He "determined, at every hazard, to lift up the standard 
of emancipation in the eyes of the nation." 

Garrison was a one-sided and prejudiced man, who nevei 
could see that the slaveholder was anything but a robber and 
murderer ; but he compelled people to listen to him, even when 
he refused to have anything to do with the federal govern- 
ment, because it protected slavery ; and he publicly burned the 
Constitution of the United States, calling it — in scriptural 
language — "a covenant with death and an agreement with 

hell." 

212. Abolition Societies (1830-1840) 

The abolitionists had a very effective method of agitation. 
Local societies were federated in a state society, which held an 
annual meeting ; and into an annual national convention. 
Meetings and local conventions were held from time to time 
Xq arouse public sentirnent, and women and negroes sat on the 



Abolition Societies 319 

stage and took part in the exercises. The societies prepared 
petitions to the state legislatures and to Congress, and did 
everything they could to interest people and to make them 
aboHtionists. Newspapers were founded, tracts, books, and 
almanacs were prepared, and freely illustrated with pictures of 
the horrors of slavery ; and one college, Oberlin, admitted negro 
students and became the western center of the abolition senti- 
ment. 

The abolitionist meetings, societies, and publications caused 
an astonishing uproar. In the South, practically nobody was 
allowed to advocate abolition ; in the North the sensitive city 
population showed its horror of the agitation by trying to mob 
the abolitionists. In 1835 ^^i antislavery meeting in Boston 
was broken up by a mob, which laid hold of Garrison, tied a 
rope about his body, and dragged him through the streets. 
In 1837 another abolition agitator and editor, Elijah Love joy, 
was murdered by a mob in Alton, Illinois, because he persisted 
in publishing an antislavery paper even in a free state. Colored 
schools were broken up, and in New York and Philadelphia 
colored settlements were attacked. Nobody was more hated 
and despised than the abolitionist. 

The abolition societies adopted the practice of sending peti- 
tions asking Congress to prohibit slavery in the District of 
Columbia, and in 1S35 William Slade of Vermont made the 
first abolition speech in Congress. This led to a series of so- 
called Gag Resolutions (183 6- 1844), by which the House for- 
bade any debate on antislavery petitions; and in the Senate, 
Calhoun introduced resolutions fiercely condemning the aboli- 
tionists. This attempt to stop discussion aroused John Quincy 
Adams, who insisted on the right to argue in the halls of Con- 
gress on any subject. In 1837 and again in 1842, attempts 
were made to pass a vote of censure on him in the House ; but 
Adams warned Congress that if they attempted to stop petitions 
by censuring the member who presented them, "they would 
have the people coming besieging, not beseeching." The first 



320 Social and Sectional Conditions 

western abolitionist member of Congress, Joshua R. Giddings 
of Ohio, appeared in 1838, and he made it the main purpose 
of his hfe to bring about slavery debates on all sorts of side 
questions, in spite of an attempt (1842) to close his lips by a 
vote of censure. 

213. Review 

The period from 1830 was one of social and moral reform. 
Despotism was losing ground in Europe, and people in the 
United States were growing sympathetic with the poor and the 
ignorant, the debtor and the criminal. In the churches there 
was a strong missionary spirit, which led to a system of mis- 
sions in foreign countries. Sunday Schools were founded, and 
new national churches were created, including the Mormon 
sect, which later found a home in the West. Reform was much 
aided by humanitarian societies, local and national, and by a 
class of men and women who gave their whole energy to urging 
reforms. Hence humane prisons were erected, imprisonment 
for debt was prohibited, and new movements were put forth in 
the cause of temperance reform and for the rights of women. 

Public schools were established in the northern states that 
lacked them, and were improved in others. The first important 
state universities were founded, and also professional schools. 
This was the Golden Age in American literature, in which 
the leaders were Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne, Bryant, Lowell, 
Bancroft, and Prescott. Great newspapers were founded and 
improved. 

The old abolitionist movement had died out but was renewed 
under the new impetus; and visitors and observers began to 
publish accounts of the conditions of slavery. No public criti- 
cism of slavery was allowed in the South, but active societies 
were founded in all parts of the North ; William Lloyd Garrison 
was the best-known leader. These societies began to petition 
Congress ; and there was no stopping them, short of giving up 
the right of free discussion in the national legislature. 



References 321 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. Coman, Indtist. Hist., 204. — Dodd, Expan- 
sion and Conflict, 169. — Hart, Slavery and Abolition, 126, 230. — John- 
son, Union and Democracy, 299. 

Secondary. Adams, U.S., IK. 175-187,198-242. — 'Eoga.ri, Econ. 
Hist., ch. xxi. — E. E. Brown, Middle Schools, chs. xi-xv ; Origin oj 
State Universities. — W. G. Brown, Lower South, 16-49. — Collins, 
Domestic Slave Trade. — Fish, Am. Nationality, 149-154, 281-299. — 
Hart, Slavery and Abolition; S. P. Chase, 28-91. — Linn, Mormons, 
bks. i-iv. — McMaster, U.S., IV. 522-569, V. 82-108, 184-226, 284- 
432, VI. 69-79, 94-113, 177-182, 270-298, 454-493, VII. 74-99,134-270. 
— MacDonald, From Jejferson to Lincoln, ch. iv ; Jacksonian Democ- 
racy, chs. i, xiv, XV. — Page, Old South, S7~g2, 143-185. — Rhodes, U.S., 
I- 40-75, 303-383- — Schouler, U.S., III. 208-234,507-531, IV. 1-31, 
176-180, 199-229, 296-303, 310-316, 422-429, 480. — Sheldon. Studeni 
Life, ch. iv. — SpSiTks, Expansion, 290-296, 376-418. — Turner, New West, 
chs. ii-iv, X. — ■ Wendell, Literary Hist., 157-435. — See also refs. to ch. xi. 

Sources. A}n. Hist. Leaflets, no. 10. — Ames, State Docs, on Fed. 
Rels., 193-223, 232-240. — Beard, Readings, §§ 32-35. — Bogart arid 
Thompson, Readings, ch. xvii. — Caldwell, Survey, 148-156. — Cald- 
well and Persinger, Source Hist., 387-395. — Callender, Econ Hist., 
ch. XV. — Douglass, Life and Times. — Harding, Select Orations, nos. 
16, 17. — Hart, Contemporaries, III. §§151-157, 169-184; Patriots 
and Statesmen, III. 333-335, 357-359, IV. 64-382 passim, V. 62-70, 
75-78, 153-155, 159-171, 252-257 ; Source Book, II. §§ 94-101. — James, 
Readings, §§ 62, 63, 76, 81. — Johnson, Readings, §§ 108-115. — Old 
South Leaflets, nos. 78, 79, 81, 102, 135, 137-141, 144, 145, 148, 157, 
175, 180. — Olmsted, Seaboard Slave States. — Smedes, Southern Planter, 
17-189. — See New Engl. Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, § 85; 
Syllabus, 348. 

Illustrative. Aldrich, Story of a Bad Boy (N.E.). — Belt, Mirage of 
Promise (abolition). — Chesnutt, Conjure Woman (slave life). — Dou- 
gall, Mormon Prophet. — Eggleston, Gray sons ; Hoosier Schoolmaster 
(West). — -Hale, New Engl. Boyhood. — Harris, Uncle Remus. — 
Hawthorne, Blithcdale Romance. — Johnston, Old Times in Middle 
Georgia. — Kester, Prodigal Judge (S.W.). — Kirkland, McVeys; 
Zury (West). — Larcom, New England Girlhood. — Longstreet, Georgia 
Scenes. — Lowell, On the Capture of Fugitive Slaves; Wendell Phillips; 
W. L. Garrison. — Mitchell, Doctor Johns (Conn.). — Stowe, Uncle 
Tom's Cabin. — Tiernan, Suzette (Va.). — Tourgee, Button's Inn 
(Mormons). — Whittier, Antislavery Poeds, 9-94. 



32 2 Social and Sectional Conditions 

Pictures. Mentor, serial nos. 77, 106, 109. — Sparks, Expansion. — 
Wilson, Am. People, IV. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Incidents of imprisonment for debt. [§ 204] — (2) Influence of 
Dorothea Dix. [§ 207] — (3) Early temperance societies. [§ 207] — 
(4) Career of one of the following : Frances Wright ; Lucy Stone ; 
Susan B. Anthony. [§ 207] — (5) Founding of one of the following 
colleges: Wesleyan ; Oberlin ; Union; North Carolina ; Michigan; 
Iowa. [§ 208] — (6) Literary career of one of the following: Irving; 
Poe ; Cooper; Bryant; Hawthorne; Lowell; Bancroft; Prescott ; 
Noah Webster; Greeley. [§ 209] — (7) Account of one of the following 
slave insurrections: Gabriel; Denmark Vesey; Nat Turner. [§ 211] — 
(8) Contemporary account of an abolition meeting. [§ 212] — (9) The 
Garrison, or Lovejoy, mob. [§ 212] 

Topics for Further Search 

(10) Catholic or Protestant missions to the Indians. [§ 205] — 
(11) Beginning of the Sunday School movement. [§ 205] — (12) Mor- 
mon Church to 1844. [§ 205] — (13) New England, or western, public 
schools previous to 1830. [§ 208] — (14) Early days at one of the fol- 
lowing : University of Virginia; West Point; Naval Academy. [§ 208] 
— (15) Conditions of one of the following groups: rich slaveholding 
families ; small slaveholding families ; poor whites ; free negroes in 
the North ; free negroes in the South ; slaves in the border states ; slaves 
in the lower South. [§ 210] — (16) Antislavery activity of one of the 
following : Johh Rankin ; James G. Birney ; Arthur Tappan • Louis 
Tappan; Gerrit Smith; Wendell Phillips; John Greenleaf Whittier; 
Theodore Parker; James Russell Lowell. [§ 211] 



II 



CHAPTER XX 

NEW POLITICAL ISSUES (1829-1841) 

214. American Democracy and Jackson 

When Jackson became President in 1829 (§ 202), the prin- 
ciples of American democratic government had in many ways 
advanced much further than in 1789: (i) Many of the states 
had rid themselves of the old property and tax qualifications 
for officers and for voters. (2) Nearly all the important state 
officers, including judges, were elected by popular vote instead 
of being chosen by the legislature or governor, as formerly. 
(3) By the system of "rotation in office " state and local elective 
officers were chosen for short terms, and rarely reelected more 
than once or twice. (4) The idea of rotation in office was 
extending to clerks and other minor officers in most states and 
municipahties. (5) The cities were growing rapidly and de- 
manded new forms of government. 

Politics, too, had lost its old simplicity. There were some 
leaders of the type now called party bosses ; and whatever 
party might be in power in a state tried to keep in power by 
distributing offices as rewards to its followers. Parties often 
tried to perpetuate their power by the "gerrymander"; that 
is, by so arranging the boundaries of electoral districts that 
their friends should carry some districts by small majorities 
and their opponents should carry fewer districts by large 
majorities, so that the minority might rule. Violence at the 
polls was frequent, and fraud was not unknown. The party 
newspapers were still unscrupulous and abusive. 

323 



324 



New Political Issues 



215. Andrew Jackson 

The most noted representative of the new democratic prin- 
ciples was President Andrew Jackson; and, except Clay, no 
man in all the West was so widely known, so experienced in 
public affairs, and so capable of making quick decisions. 

In personal appearance 
Jackson was tall and 
spare, with a high fore- 
head and a great mane 
of hair, which silvered 
while he was President. 
A lion to his enemies, 
Jackson was the soul of 
courtesy, and to ladies 
almost a Don Quixote. 
All his Hfe long he was 
accustomed to lead in 
the community and in 
the army ; hence he 
was over-quick to make 
up his mind, and when 
he had once come to a 
conclusion, could not 
be moved from it. 
"Jack Downing," a pohtical humorist of the time, makes him 
say, "It has always bin my way, when I git a notion, to stick 
to it till it dies a natural death ; and the more folks talk agin 
my notions, the more I stick to 'em." 

On the whole Jackson's instincts were right ; he hated 
monopoly and corporate greed and private advantage from 
public office. He saw much better than most men of his time 
the dangers likely to result from the effort of the national 
government to help the states and the business men. His 
fault was that he looked upon the government as a kind of 




Andrew Jackson. (From a daguerreotype.) 



Jackson's Administration 



325 



military organization in which it was treason to the country to 
interfere with the orders of the commanding general. If he 
had a prejudice against a man, he thought that man his enemy ; 
if he was Jackson's enemy, of course he must also be an enemy 
to his country. Yet it is true that Jackson was a Hving repre- 
sentative of the opinions of a majority of the voters in the 
United States, and represented them more directly than did 
the members of Congress. 

216. Jackson's Administration (1829-1837) 

Jackson's military principles were carried into his appoint- 
ments. His Cabinet had no eminent member except Martin 
Van Buren of New 
York, the Secretary of 
State, often called "the 
Little Magician," for 
his urbanity and politi- 
cal shrewdness. Along- 
side his official Cabinet 
was a group of personal 
friends satirically called 
the "Kitchen Cabinet," 
which contained the real 
advisers of the Presi- 
dent: it included Van 
Buren ; Major Eaton, 
Secretary of War ; Amos 
Kendall, later brought 
into the post office de- 
partment to dismiss the 
local postmasters ; and 
Duff Green, editor of the Telegraph, the Jackson newspaper 
organ. It was a mistake to appoint other men to the Cabinet if 
the President did not care to consult them. Thomas H. Benton, 
senator from Missouri, was one of the strongest Jackson men. 

hart's new AMER. hist. 21 




Thomas H. Benton. 



326 New Political Issues 

Never before that time had a President been so beset with 
office seekers ; and the principal way in which vacancies could 
be found was by turning out those who already held office. 
To the day of his death Jackson declared that no man was 
removed in his admmistration without a reason; but he was 
easily persuaded that hundreds of officers were lazy, or corrupt, 
or politically partisan. Hence in his eight years Ke removed 
252 of the 610 officers appointed by the President ; a>id nobody 
knows how many clerks and subordinates went with their 
chiefs. The vacancies thus made were filled without much 
discrimination, and the Senate threw out many of his nomi- 
nations. Yet it is an injustice to Jackson to hold him respon- 
sible for bringing the system of partisan politics to Washington. 
He really meant to carry out what he called " the task of reform," 
but he demoralized the public service, because he took the ad- 
^dce of people intent chiefly on their own political fortunes. 
This so-called " Spoils System " was much aided by the growth 
of party spirit and party organization ; when a party captured 
the presidency, many of the friends of the other party were 
removed. 

217. The Bank and the Tariff (1829-1832) 

Jackson's love of a fight and his hold on the people were 
brought out by his long contest with the United States Bank. 
That bank had several sets of enemies, among them the western 
state banks, of which there were about three hundred. An- 
other group was created when Biddle, president of the bank, 
refused to remove some branch-bank officers and to substitute 
Jackson men (1829). Its most dangerous foe was Jackson, 
because he represented an enormous constituency of farmers 
and small traders who were convinced that the eastern capi- 
taUsts were getting more than their share of the annual products 
of the country. Jackson believed also, and with reason, that 
the bank sooner or later would become a political force. 

Accordingly, in his annual messages year after year Jackson 



Nullification and the Tariff 327 

repeated a warning that the bank was dangerous, unsound, and 
unconstitutional. In 1832, as the presidential election was 
approaching, the friends of the bank, under Clay's leadership, 
made up their minds to force the issue into the campaign. 
They therefore passed a recharter bill in both houses, four 
years before the charter of 18 16 was to expire; and Jackson, 
as was expected, vetoed it (July 10, 1832). 

The bank question was for a time pushed aside by the threats 
of South Carolina to nullify the offensive tariff acts. The tem- 
per of the states was shown in a debate in the Senate in 1830, 
in which Senator Hayne insisted on the right of a state to de- 
clare a federal statute void (§ 152). Webster of Massachusetts 
seized the opportunity in his "Second Reply to Hayne," to 
protest, with all his matchless eloquence and national spirit, 
not so much against Hayne as against the doctrines of the 
South Carolina Exposition of 1828, written by Vice President 
Calhoun (§ 201). 

Jackson's position on nullification was not clearly made 
known till April, 1830, when, at a dinner on Jefferson's birth- 
day, he was called on for a toast and gave "Our Federal Union : 
it must be preserved." A few weeks later Jackson quarreled 
with Calhoun for personal reasons, and broke off relations with 
the Vice President. A last effort was made to get Congress to 
reduce the offensive tariff, and a new tariff was passed (July 14,' 
1832) ; but Clay saw to it that the protective duties of 1824 
were left in, and some of them raised ; though the average rate 
of duty was reduced to about 34 per cent. 

218. Nullification and the Tariff (1832-1833) 

In the presidential campaign of 1832, the direct issue was 
the bank. For the first time delegates were gathered in general 
party nominating conventions. The anti- Jackson men met 
in a "National Republican Convention," made the first rational 
party platform, and nominated Henry Clay. Jackson had 
already been nominated by members of several state legisla- 



328 New Political Issues 

turcs, and his nomination was confirmed by a "Democratic 
National Convention," which also proposed Van Buren for 
Vice President. In the election, part of New England, with 
Maryland, Delaware, and Kentucky, went for Clay; and the 
rest of the South (except South Carolina) and the West, with 
Pennsylvania and New York, voted for Jackson, who had 219 
electoral votes to 49 for Clay, and 690,000 popular votes to 
530,000. 

Jackson accepted the election of 1832 as an approval of his 
past course, and also of all the things that he meant to do in 
the future ; and something had to be done very soon in South 
Carolina. A convention of the state, elected for that sole 
purpose, passed a Nullification Ordinance (November 24, 1832) 
declaring the tariff acts of 1828 and 1832 to be "null, void, and 
no law, nor binding upon this State, its officers or citizens." 
This action, which was a revival of the doctrine of the Virginia 
and Kentucky Resolutions (§ 152), was taken by Jackson as a 
personal affront. He issued a proclamation (December 11), 
warning the people of South Carolina against "the illegal and 
disorganizing action of the convention." At Jackson's request, 
an act, popularly called the "Force Bill" or "Bloody Bill," 
was passed by Congress (March 2, 1833), giving the President 
more power to raise forces to meet such a crisis. 

South Carolina began to raise troops, and the country was 
full of excitement. Calhoun resigned the vice presidency and 
came back to the Senate in 1833, in order to defend his doc- 
trines in debates with Webster. In the end South Carolina 
really carried her point, for the majority of Congress believed 
that the South was wronged by the tariff. Under Clay's leader- 
ship, by the Compromise tariff of 1833 (March 2) Congress 
provided that the rates should be reduced at intervals till 1842, 
when they were all to come down to 20 per cent. Since the 
purpose of nullification was thus reached without actually 
applying it, all plans of resistance were dropped by South 
Carolina, 



State Rights Theories of Calhoun 



3^9 



219. Static Rights Thkokiks of Calhoun 

For the ideas and arguments behind the nulhllcation move- 
ment, we must look to the addresses and speeches of John C. 
Calhoun. Calhoun came of 'the vigorous Scotch-Irish race; 
he was born in 1782 in South Carolina and entered Congress in 
181 1. As Monroe's Secretary of War (1817-1825) he was very 
efficient, and as Vice President (1825-1832) he was long looked 
upon as the probable suc- 
cessor to Jackson. In 
1828 he made a square 
turn against the use of na- 
tional authority through 
implied powers (§ 141) 
and worked out his doc- 
trine of nullification — a 
doctrine which was a 
magazine of argument for 
the secessionists at the 
time of the Civil War. It 
may be divided into three 
parts — the grievance, tlu' 
nature of the federal go\- 
ernment, and (he remedy : 

(i) Calhoun's grievance 
was that without any 
constitutional warrant, by 
the "tyranny of the ma- 
jority," the tariff took a tax out of the pocket of the planters, 
and brought ihem no advantage. 

(2) His theory of the government was that "the Union is a 
union of states and not of individuals" ; that the Constitution 
is a "compact" made by the states ; and, as in any other con- 
tract, if the states on one side failed to observe the limitations 
of the Constitution, the other states were freed from their obliga- 




JoiiN C. Calhoun, about 1850. 
a daguerreotype.) 



(From 



330 New Political Issues 

tion. He insisted that the federal system had no independent 
existence and was not a real government, but only an "agency." 
(3) Calhoun shrank from the logical pohcy of secession ; he 
proposed, instead, the remedy, of nulhfication, by which the 
people of South Carolina were simply to refuse to obey the 
tariff acts, on the ground that they were unconstitutional. 
For the federal government to bring suits to enforce the acts, 
or to use force, seemed to Calhoun's mind an act of war, which 
would dissolve the Union ; and he had no doubt that other 
states would come to the rescue. 



220. National Theories of Webster 

The spokesman of the national theory of government was 
Daniel Webster, born in 1782 in New Hampshire. He graduated 

from Dartmouth College. 
In 1813 he was sent 
to Congress from New 
Hampshire ; then in 1823 
from Massachusetts, and 
in 1828 to a senator's seat 
from Massachusetts, which 
he occupied most of his life 
thenceforth, with two inter- 
vals of service as Secretary 
of State. Webster's the- 
ory of the government was 
substantially as follows : 

(i) He scouted the idea 
that the Constitution is 
a compact, and called it 
an "instrument of govern- 
ment" for a nation. "It 
Daniel Webster. . „. , i , /^ 

IS, Sir, the people s Consti- 
tution, . . . made by the people, and answerable to the people. . . . 
We are all agents of the same supreme power, the people." 




Public Deposits and Speculation 331 

(2) In language which rang throughout the Union, he denied 
the right of nulhfication and declared the great principle that 
the states could no more destroy the Union than the Union 
could destroy the states ; for both were founded on the consent 
of the American people, taken as a whole. 

(3) On the question who should decide in disputes as to 
federal powers, he held that the Constitution provided a mode 
"for bringing all questions of constitutional power to the final 
decision of the Supreme Court." 

Webster's speeches were widely read and became the familiar 
doctrine in the North, especially in the crisis of the Civil War. 
One of the phrases just quoted appears in a little different form 
in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address of 1863. 

221. Public Deposits and Speculation (1833-1837) 

When the nullification trouble was out of the way, Jackson 
returned with energy to the United States Bank, which he 
attacked with all his might because he was under the mistaken 
belief that it was secretly bankrupt. He therefore ordered the 
Secretary of the Treasury, Duane, to stop depositing govern- 
ment funds in the bank (September, 1833). When Duane 
refused, Jackson removed him and appointed in his place 
Roger B. Taney, who gave the necessary orders. This was a 
terrible blow to the prestige of the bank. Jackson held with 
justice that it was the right of the President to perform what he 
beheved to be his constitutional duty, subject to impeachment 
or to public opinion. The approval of the country was shown 
in 1834, when majorities of Jackson men were elected to both 
the House and the Senate. The deposits were never restored, 
and when the national charter expired in 1836, the bank was 
obliged to accept a Pennsylvania state charter in order to con- 
tinue business. 

By this time it was a tradition that no President should serve 
more than two terms, and Jackson secured the nomination of 
Van Buren by the Democratic convention of 1836. The oppo- 



332 New Political Issues 

sition, now called "Whigs," were too discouraged (o make a 
party nomination, and Jackson's popularity pulled the Demo- 
cratic candidate through by 1 70 electoral votes to 1 24 'fcattered 
among four Whig candidates. 

Before Van Buren took office in 1837, the country was ap- 
proaching the worst financial panic that it has ever known. 
The main reasons for this calamity were the bad conditions of 
currency, banking, and speculative business. 

(i) When the notes of the United States Bank were retired, 
the only currency was depreciated state bank notes, for specie 
was almost out of circulation. 

(2) The banking business was in poor shape. Western and 
southwestern banks received large government deposits and 
lent the funds to buyers of public lands. 

(3) Prices of cotton and other products rose so fast that 
everybody seemed to be getting rich. The states found that 
they had credit abroad and ran up public debts amounting te 
$170,000,000. 

222. Panic of 1837 and its Consequences (183 5-1 840) 

Speculation was especially lively in the western lands. To 
check it, Jackson issued a Specie Circular (1836) directing thai 
nothing but gold and silver should thenceforth be received for 
the public lands. In 1835 the national debt was extinguished 
and a surplus began to run up. People supposed that there 
would be a surplus every year indefinitely, and Congress passed 
the Deposit Act (June, 1836) for transferring to the states 
about $36,000,000. The money had to come out of the banks 
holding government deposits, and that brought on the crash. 
In May, 1837, all the banks in the country suspended specie 
payment of their notes. Nine tenths of the business men in 
the country went bankrupt. Many of the states ceased pay- 
ing interest on their state debts, and three of them repudiated 
their outstanding public debts to the amount of about 
$20,000,000. The building of railroads ^nd canals received a 



Foreign Policy and Texas 333 

shock, and it was five or six years before commercial prosperity 
returned. 

The "pet banks" eventually turned over to the government 
$28,000,000 of public funds under the Deposit Act, and it was 
duly transferred to the states. Some of the states spent the 
money on canals, some in payment of old debts, some for educa- 
tion, and a few states simply divided it among the voters. Slowly 
the country struggled up again ; though in a second and lighter 
crash (1839), the old United States Bank went completely to 
ruin. Some of the states, especially New York, had provided, 
against such a calamity, a system. of banking laws, under which 
the state banks were required to keep on hand specie to redeem 
any notes that might be presented. 

A notable act of Congress during Van Buren's administration 
was a statute of 1840 for an independent treasury, or sub- 
treasury, as it was often called, requiring the Treasury Depart- 
ment to keep its balances in its own vaults. 

223. Foreign Policy and Texas (1829-1841) 

Jackson was not exactly what is called a diplomatic man, 
but in his relations with foreign countries he was on the whole 
successful. From Great Britain he secured the long-desired 
privilege of carrying on West India trade in American ships 
(§ no) ; and he refused to carry out an arbitration for the settle- 
ment of the Maine boundaries. By rather undignified threats, 
he compelled France to make a settlement (1836) of the " French 
Spoliation Claims," for captures of American merchantmen, 
claims which had been running ever since 1803. 

The most serious foreign question of the time was the atti- 
tude of the United States toward "Texas," as the Mexicans 
named the region southwest of Louisiana. Americans had long 
looked with desire upon this broad, rich land, and in 1819 
Moses Austin and his son Stephen F. Austin, originally Con- 
necticut men, secured large land grants from Spain. When 
Mexico became independent (1821) the new government con- 



534 New Political Issues 

firmed the grants, and thousands of settlers poured in, many 
of them from the southern states and many with their slaves. 
Both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, in the hope of 
bringing the wandering children back under the home roof, 
made several vain attempts to buy Texas. 

By 1836 the Americans in Texas felt so strongly that they 
were a separate people, that they openly declared their inde- 
pendence, and drew up a constitution under which slavery was 
made legal. A few days later, the fortified church of the Alamo 
in San Antonio was taken by a Mexican force after a brave de- 
fense, and every American defender was killed. This massacre 
sowed undying hatred. The Texans could not be conquered 
by Mexico, and asked to be made a state of the Union, claiming 
a boundary to the mouth of the Rio Grande, "then up the 
principal stream of the said river to its source." Jackson 
would have been glad to meet this demand, but there was such 
a strong feeling in the North against bringing in more slave- 
holding territory that he contented himself by securing the 
recognition of Texan independence. For eight years, therefore, 
the United States regularly exchanged dispatches and messages 
with Texas. Van Buren, as a northern man, felt no interest 
in annexation, and he did his best to come to an understanding 
with Mexico by a settlement of claims for losses and injuries 
suffered in that country by American citizens. 

224. Review 

The twelve years of Jackson's influence, which included Van 
Buren's administration (1837-1841), were marked by great ac- 
tivity in public life. Suffrage and officeholding were made 
easier. At the same time party organization became stiffer, 
and tended to submit to personal control. Andrew Jackson 
represented these new tendencies toward a broader democracy, 
though he had the fault of looking on all public questions as more 
or less personal. He made the mistake of appointing a Cabi- 
net which he did not fully trust, and of removing a large number 



References 335 

of public officials because he was led to believe that they were 
corrupt or inefficient. 

Jackson attacked the United States Bank and after several 
years of controversy succeeded in preventing its recharter. 
The protest of South Carolina against the tariff brought on 
the famous Webster-Hayne debate of 1830, shortly after which 
Jackson openly took the side of the Union. 

Jackson was reelected in 1832, mainly on the bank issue, and 
at once moved against the theory of the government put forth 
by Calhoun under the name of "nullification" (1828). The state 
of South Carolina in 1S32 adopted an ordinance intended to 
nullify the tariff laws. Jackson opposed, and would have used 
force against the nullifiers. Nevertheless by the compromise 
of 1833, Congress gave way on the tariff issue, and nulHfication 
was not put to the test. On the other hand Daniel Webster 
stated the national theory of government in a way that was 
never forgotten. 

Jackson ordered the removal of the government deposits in 
the United States Bank in 1S33. Bad banking led to specula- 
tion in the public lands, and was not stopped by Jackson's Specie 
Circular of 1836, nor by the Deposit Act of the same year for 
turning over the cash surplus of the government to the states. 
A commercial panic in 1837 was the worst the country has ever 
seen. During this period Jackson was settling the French Spolia- 
tion Claims, and tried unsuccessfully to bring the country to the 
point of annexing the new republic of Texas. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See map, p. 346. — Dodd, Expansion ana 
Conflict, 49, 66, 92. — Hart, Slavery and Abolition, 8, 52, 300. — Mac- 
Donald, Jacksonian Democracy, 4, 130, 214, 258. 

Secondary. Bassett, Andrew Jackson, II. chs. xx-xxxii; U.S.^ 
392-426, 432-435. — Brown, Andrew Jackson, 118-156. — Coman, 
Econ. Beginnings of the Far West, II. 94-109. — Dewey, Financial Hist., 
§§81-101. — Dodd, Expansion and Conflict, chs. iv-vi. — Fish, Am. 
Nationality, 184-248. — Garrison, Texas, chs. xi-xx; Westward Exten- 



336 New Political Issues 

sion, ch. vi. — Hart, Slavery and Abolition, ch. xx. — Hunt, /. C. 
Calhoun, chs. ix-xv. — -Lodge, Daniel Webster, 166-234. — McMaster, 
U. S., V. 2-13, 519-556, VI. 1-68, 114-270, 299-420, 458-463, 494-513, 
523-549. — -MacDonald, From Jefferson to Lincoln, ch. iii ; Jacksonian 
Democracy, chs. ii, iv-vii, ix, xi-xiii, xvii, xviii. — Peck, Jacksoniati 
Epoch, 123-472. — Roosevelt, T. H. Benton, 63-139, 151-209. — • 
Schouler, U. S., III. 451-506, IV. 31-121, 132-199, 229-296, 316-352. — 
Schurz, Henry Clay, I. 322-384, II. chs. xiv-xvi, xviii-xx. — Shepard, 
Van Bitren, chs. vi-x, xii. — Stanwood, Presidency, I. chs. xiii-xvi. 

Sources. A m. Hist. Leaflets, nos. 24, 30. — Ames, State Docs, on 
Fed. Rels., 158-189, 225-228. — Beard, Readings, §§ 39, 49-51. — 
Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 321-327, 496-503. — Caldwell and 
Persinger, Source Hist., 354-378. — Hart, Contemporaries, III. §§ 158- 
164, 185, 186; Patriots find Statesmen, IV. 135-140, 154-329 passim. — ■ 
Johnston, Am-. Orations, I. 233-334, IV. 202-237. — See New Engl. 
Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, § 84; Syllabus, 345-348. 

Illustrative. Barr, Remember the Alamo. — Davis, Letters of J. 
Downing, Major. — Dillon, Patience of John Norland. — Munroe, 
With Crockett a}id Bowie. — Simms, Border Beagles; Richard Hurdis. 

Pictures. Sparks, Expansion. — Wilson, A m. People, IV. 

Topics Answerable froiri the References Above 

(i) Objections to the "Kitchen Cabinet." [§ 216] — (2) Instances 
of removals of officials by Jackson. [§ 216] — (3) Career of Nicholas 
Biddle. [§ 217] — (4) Contemporary accounts of the Webster-Hayne 
debate. [§ 217] — (5) Why did Jackson quarrel with Calhoun? [§ 217] 
— (6) Incidents of the election of 1832. [§ 218] — (7) Incidents of the 
South Carolina Nullification Convention. [§ 218] — (8) Public career 
of Roger B. Taney. [§ 221] — (9) Wildcat state banks from 1830 to 
1840. [§ 221] — (10) Incidents of the panic of 1837. [§ 222] — (11) 
Career of Moses Austin, or of Stephen F. Austin. [§ 223] — (12) Life 
in Texas before 1835. [§ 223] — (13) Siege and capture of the Alamo. 
(§ 223] 

Topics for Further Search 

(14) Why were the qualifications for voters made easier? [§ 214] — 
(15) Why were judges elected instead of appointed? [§ 214] — (16) De- 
bates on the tariff of 1833. [§ 218] — (17) What did Calhoun mean by 
"compact"? [§ 219] — (18) Contemporary accounts of Webster's 
ideas on the Constitution. [§ 220] — (19) Was the second United States 
Bank dangerous? [§ 221] — (20) What were the "French Spoliation 
Claims "? [§ 223] 



CHAPTER XXI 



ADVANCE TO THE PACIFIC (1841-1850) 

225. Whig Politics (1840-1842) and Local Disorders 

(1837-1842) 

By the election of 1840, there was a change in party control 
for the first time since the new tariff system. The anti- Jackson 
men, or Whigs, succeeded in electing William Henry Harrison 
of Ohio over Van Buren, whom the Democrats nominated for 
a second term. It was 
a boisterous campaign, 
full of great mass meet- 
ings. Somebody said 
that Harrison was fit 
only to sit in his log 
cabin and drink hard 
cider ; the Whigs took 
up the slur; and log 
cabins on wheels, 
amply provided with 
barrels of hard cider, 
were used as a popular 
argument to voters. 
The Democrats were 
beaten by the hard 
times, securing only 60 

electoral votes against 234. Harrison had a popular majority 
of about 140,000. The Whigs, who were in control of both 
houses of the next Congress, set out to recharter a national 

337 




Harrison Campaign Symbol of 1840, as 
displayed on a handkercmef. 



338 Advance to the Pacific 

bank, to spend money freely for internal improvements, and to 
revive a protective tariff. 

Harrison died a month after his inauguration and was suc- 
ceeded by the Vice President, John Tyler of Virginia, who was 
really not a Whig at all. He therefore vetoed two bank bills 
and two tariff bills, whereupon all the Whig Cabinet, except 
Webster, resigned. Tyler finally accepted the tariff of 1842, 
which ignored the compromise agreement of 1833 (§ 218) and 
raised the average duties from about 24 per cent to about 35 
per cent. Throughout the rest of his administration, Tyler 
could find neither Whig nor Democratic support, and quarreled 
with Congress. 

The late thirties and early forties were a time of disorder and 
disturbance. Besides the antislavery riots (§ 212), there were 
violent riots against foreigners ; and in 1837 a Catholic convent 
near Boston was burned to the ground by an anti-Catholic 
mob. In two of the states there were serious outbreaks : 

(i) In 1839, certain landholders in central New York held 
"Antirent" meetings to protest against the payment of a per- 
manent annual ground rent, or "quitrent," amounting to from 
$7 to $18 a year per hundred acres. After several years of 
violence, the landlords accepted lump money payments for 
their claims. 

(2) Rhode Island was the scene of the movement commonly 
called the "Dorr Rebellion" (1842). The so-called rebels were 
trying to secure, by irregular methods, a more liberal state 
constitution with manhood suffrage. Dorr, the most prominent 
man in the agitation, was arrested and convicted of treason. 
Practically he accomplished his work, for the government 
proceeded to make a new constitution and to enlarge the 
suffrage. 

226. The Maine Boundary (1821-1842) 

Alongside the political questions of the day came several 
matters of foreign policy. Between 1842 and 1846 the bounda- 



The Maine Boundary 339 

ries of the United States were settled for Maine, Oregon, and 
Texas. 

The controversy over the boundary between Maine and New 
Brunswick began with the Treaty of 17S3, under which the 
hne was to run "from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, 
viz. that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from 
the source of Saint Croix 
River to the Highlands ; 
along the said Highlands 
which divide those rivers 
that empty themselves 
into the river St. Law- 
rence, from those which 
fall into the Atlantic 
Ocean, to the northwest- 
ernmost head of Con- 
necticut River." It was 
soon found that the two 
governments did not agree 
as to what stream was the 
St. Croix, nor where to 
locate the northwest angle, 
nor where the Highlands 
were, nor even what was 
meant by "Atlantic 
Ocean." 

When an attempt was 
made to run the line (1821) 

the British insisted that the "Highlands" was a divide south of 
the St. John River. The Americans with far better reason found 
the "Highlands" 125 miles farther north, on the divide just 
south of the St. Lawrence. The local authorities almost came 
to blows in the "Aroostook War" (1838). Webster remained in 
Tyler's Cabinet long enough to settle this question: in 1842 
he negotiated the Webster-Ashburton treaty, by which the dis- 




NORTHEAST BOUNDARY. 



340 Advance to the Pacific 

puted territory was divided, and each party got about half. 
The settlement was creditable and satisfactory to both sides, 
and ended a controversy that threatened to bring on war. 

227. Exploration of the Interior (1820-1845) 

After the Lewis and Clark expedition to Oregon, and Pike's 
explorations (§ 160), little was done by the government to 
explore the interior; but the fur traders followed every im- 
portant stream and opened up many routes across the Rockies. 
After 1820 trade was developed with New Mexico over the 
"Santa Fe trail," a road leading southwestward from Inde- 
pendence on the Missouri River to the Rio Grande (map, page 
372). In 1832, a party under Bonneville crossed the Rockies 
with a wagon by the Platte route and went as far west as Great 
Salt Lake ; some of his men even went on to the Pacific. 

The Oregon fur trade was an object of great desire and before 
1830 the traders discovered a route from the neighborhood of 
Great Salt Lake across country to the Columbia. In 1834, 
Nathaniel J. Wyeth of Massachusetts guided a party of traders 
and settlers to Fort Hall, north of Great Salt Lake, and thence 
to Oregon. By this time several mission societies, Protestant 
and Catholic, were sending out missionaries to the Oregon 
Indians along this route. In the winter of 1842-1843 Dr. 
Whitman came east from Oregon by a dangerous, roundabout 
route, partly on business of his mission, partly because he sup- 
posed that Webster was willing to give up all claims to Oregon. 
There was no such danger ; the country was awake to the im- 
portance of a Pacific outlet ; and there is no contemporary 
evidence to show that Whitman influenced either Secretary 
Webster or the President. In 1843 ^^ joined an expedition 
formed by other people and with it returned to Oregon. 

About the same time, a young army officer, named John C. 
Fremont, made three long explorations westward (184 2-1 845). 
He twice crossed the Sierra Nevada to California. He was a 
poor explorer, and made no proper surveys ; but he was a son- 



Annexation of Texas 341 

in-law of Senator Benton of Missouri, young, dashing, and 
good-looking, and got the name of "Pathfinder" for his exploits. 

228. Annexation of Texas (1844-1845) 

The interior and Oregon were valuable for the future, but Texas 
was an immediate, pressing question which came to an issue in 
1844. President Tyler appointed John C. Calhoun Secretary 
of State so that he might negotiate a treaty of annexation (April, 
1844), and this brought the whole issue squarely before the coun- 
try. The main arguments in favor of annexation were : (i) that 
it was a natural expansion which would simply bring back 
Americans to their own country; (2) that it was a "reannexa- 
tion" of territory which was really a part of the Louisiana 
Purchase (§ 190) ; (3) that it would be an advantage to the 
slaveholders by giving them greater strength in the Union. 
On the other side the antislavery forces of the North violently 
opposed annexation because: (i) it would strengthen the slave- 
holding power in the Union; (2) it would probably bring on 
war with Mexico. 

The treaty failed of ratification ; and the question became 
an issue in the election of 1844. Clay, who was known to be 
opposed to annexation, was nominated by the Whigs. Van 
Buren was dropped by the Democratic convention and James 
K. Polk of Tennessee was nominated because he was known to 
favor annexation. The Democratic platform declared for 
"the reoccupation of Oregon and the reannexation of Texas 
at the earliest practicable period." Clay then felt com- 
pelled to change his ground by saying that he would be glad 
to see Texas annexed, "without dishonor, without war, with 
the common consent of the Union, and upon just and fair 
terms." 

The abolitionists, under the name of the Liberty party, 
nominated James G. Birney, and it proved that they had the 
balance of power. With only 62,000 popular votes out of 
2,700,000, they were able to draw so many votes away from 



HART S NEW AMER. HIST. — 22 



342 Advance to the Pacific 

Clay in New York as to throw that close state to Polk, who 
was consequently elected. 

Congress and President Tyler did not wait for the new ad- 
ministration : since annexation seemed to have the approval 
of the majority of the people, a joint resolution passed the 
House by a vote of 120 to 98, and the Senate by 27 to 25 (March 
I, 1845), permitting the admission of Texas as a state on very 
favorable terms. The joint resolution provided also that Texas 
might later, with her own consent, be subdivided into five 
states, all presumably slave states ; except that slavery was to 
be prohibited in any new state or states north of the line of 

36° 30'. 

229. President Polk's Policy 

Few Presidents have been so successful in carrying out what 
they undertook as James K. Polk, Tyler's successor. He was 
born in 1795, was a graduate of the University of North Caro- 
lina, was fourteen years a member of the House of Represent- 
atives (four years Speaker), and then for one term governor of 
Tennessee. He had large public experience, and an imperious 
and far-reaching mind. The defect of Polk's character was 
his lack of moral principle as to the property of our neighbor, 
Mexico. His diary shows clearly that his real intentions and 
purposes were very different from those which he put forward 
in public. From the first he meant not only to annex Texas, 
but to add to the Union the enormous belt of territory stretch- 
ing from the Gulf to the Pacific, to gain the port of San Fran- 
cisco for Pacific trade, and to turn over the greater part of the 
new territories to slavery. 

Therefore, when Polk came into ofiice, he put no obstacle in 
the way of the annexation policy which Tyler had carried 
through ; and he seemed from the first to have adopted the 
extravagant Texan claim to all the territory north and east of 
the Rio Grande. 

As for Oregon, Polk turned his back on the right to "all 
Oregon" and "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight" which had been 



President Polk's Policy 343 

part of his stock in trade in the election of 1844, and he soon 
showed a willingness to divide the country with Great Britain. 
The American government had a series of strong claims based 
on the discovery by Gray, in 1792 (§ 160), the first exploration 
of Lewis and Clark in 1805, the first settlement by Astor in 
181 1, and the first settlement in the Willamette valley in 1832. 




Oregon Boundary Controversy. 

The British came in second on all these counts ; but their agent, 
the Hudson's Bay Company, was actually holding a considera- 
ble number of posts both north and south of the Columbia 
River. Years before this time the United States had offered to 
accept the 49th parallel, extended westward from the Rocky 
Mountains, as the boundary, and on that basis Polk made a 
treaty (June, 1846). The northwestern boundary territorial 
controversy was thus settled after fifty-four years of dispute. 



344 Advance to the Pacific 

A strong Democratic majority appeared in both houses of 
Congress in 1 845-1 846. Robert J. Walker, Secretary of the 
Treasury, drafted and presented to Congress a measure which 
became law as the tariff of 1846. The duties on luxuries were 
very high, reaching 100 per cent on brandy and spirits ; on 
ordinary manufactures they were only about 30 per cent ; 
the average on dutiable goods was about 25 per cent; and, by 
the increase of imports, the annual proceeds in a few years were 
twice as great as those under the tariff of 1842. 

230. Causes of the War with Mexico (i 845-1 846) 

California, with "the fine Bay of San Francisco," was much 
on Polk's mind, and he hoped that the native Californians 
would revolt just as the Texans had done and then annex 
themselves to the United States. He instructed our consul at 
Monterey to work in that direction, and he also sent John 
Slidell to Mexico to buy California if possible. The Mexicans 
would not consider any such proposition, and it became clear 
that the only way to annex California was to fight for it. 

Several other reasons for war could be more openly stated 
than that relating to California: (i) Claims for outrages 
against the persons and property of Americans in Mexico had 
been pending for twenty years and those claims were now 
pushed hard by Polk. (2) Mexico was threatening war on the 
ground that the United States in annexing Texas had robbed 
Mexico of a province. (3) The Mexicans entirely rejected the 
Rio Grande boundary. In fact the Texan claim included part 
of the ancient province of New Mexico, which was no more 
Texan than St. Louis (map, page 346) . 

Without waiting even to hear from Slidell, Polk ordered 
General Zachary Taylor to advance with his troops into the 
disputed belt between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. 
This brought about a collision (April 24, 1846). The Mexicans 
attacked the Americans on the northern side of the Rio 
Grande. 



Causes of the War with Mexico 345 

Polk was already trying to bring Congress to declare war, 
and the news of the Mexican attack was followed by a special 
message of May 11, 1846, in which Polk boldly declared that 
"war exists and notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, 
exists by the act of Mexico herself." On that basis Congress 
was swept into a declaration of war. 

The wrath of the antislavery men over the purpose of en- 
larging the slave power was expressed by James P.ussell Lowell 
in the fiercest satire of his Biglow Papers : 

" They may talk o' Freedom's airy 
Till they're pupple in the face, 
It's a grand gret cemetary 

Fer the barthrights of our race, 
They jest want this Californy 
So's to lug new slave states in 
■ To abuse ye, an' to scorn ye, 
An' to plunder ye like sin. " 

The war had hardly begun before President Polk asked 
Congress for $2,000,000 to be used for "negotiations" (August 
4, 1846) ; the real purpose seems to have been to buy General 
Santa Anna, former dictator of the Mexican Republic, then in 
exile. The northern antislavery men seized the opportunity to 
make clear their determination not to annex any more slave 
territory. David Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduced an 
amendment to the proposed appropriation, which has always 
been called the " Wilmot Proviso " ; it was prepared by a group 
of northwestern Democrats. It declared that, "As an express 
and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any terri- 
tory . . . neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever 
exist in any part of the said territory." The whole proposi- 
tion failed through a technicality ; but the South was aroused. 
Abraham Lincoln, in 1 847-1 849, voted in Congress forty- 
two times for the principle of the Wilmot Proviso ; but he 
voted in vain, for the Senate always showed an adverse ma- 
jority. 



346 



Advance to the Pacific 



231. Mexican War (i 846-1 848) 

However unrighteous the causes of the Mexican War, it 
was carried on successfully by land and sea. General Taylor 
beat the Mexicans in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la 




1 CoI.Keamy's ronte 

2 Gen. Taylor's " 

3 Gen. Scott's " 



Field of the Mexican War. (The territory in dispute between 
Texas and Mexico is shown by the lighter shading.) 

Palma (May). Then he crossed the river and again de- 
feated the Mexicans at Monterey (September). Santa Anna 
was passed through the Hnes into Mexico, under Polk's order. 



Mexican War 347 

but took the patriot side and organized a new army, with which 
he vainly attacked Taylor at Buena Vista (February, 1847). 

General Winfield Scott, in chief command, landed with a new 
army at Vera Cruz (March, 1847), and fought his way steadily 
across the mountains and down into the valley of Mexico. 
He attacked the city of Mexico with about 6000 available troops 
and finally captured it (September). The Mexican government 
was thus broken up and could put no more armies into the field. 

Three areas of territory were added to the United States as a 
result of the war. The first was the belt between the Nueces 
and the Rio Grande, out of which the Mexicans had been driven 
by Taylor's army. The second was New Mexico, which ex- 
tended across the upper Rio Grande. The capital, Santa Fe, 
was taken by General Kearny without firing a shot (August, 
1846). He set up a civil government and, with part of his 
command, marched on to California. This tliird area he found 
already conquered. In June, 1846, without knowing of the 
outbreak of war, the American settlers in California, number- 
ing only 300, founded what they called the Bear Flag Repubhc, 
which was aided by Fremont with a little force of government 
troops, and then by a naval force under Commodore Sloat. 
' It was one thing to occupy these regions and quite another 
to find any responsible men in Mexico who would make a treaty 
ceding the conquered country. Polk sent out N. P. Trist, a 
quarrelsome and insubordinate man, to make a peace with 
Mexico. Wlien he could not succeed, great pressure was put 
upon the President to annex the whole of Mexico. Polk's 
diary says on this point, "I replied that I was not prepared to 
go to that extent . . . that I had in my last message declared 
that I did not contemplate the conquest of Mexico." The 
Mexicans were startled and finally made a treaty with Trist 
under which $15,000,000 in cash was to be paid by the United 
States to Mexico ; that is, practically, to the leaders who 
would sign the treaty. Mexico gave up all claim to Texas as 
far as the Rio Grande, and ceded the whole of New MoKico and 



348 



Advance to the Pacific 



California. This treaty was accepted by Polk and approved 
by the Senate. Thus the Mexican War resulted in a great in- 
crease of territory. The war cost about $100,000,000 and the 
Hves of 13,000 of the 100,000 soldiers engaged. In 1853 by the 
Gadsden purchase (map, page viii) the United States bought 
what is now southern Arizona from Mexico, paying $10,000,000. 

232. Commercial Effect of the Pacific Annexations 

After the formal adjustment of the Oregon boundary in 1846 
(§ 229), settlers made their way to Oregon both by land and 




Santa Harbara ]\ 1 1 >m < • \ , Cm 



\, Founded in 1786. 



by the sea route around Cape Horn, but at that time the settled 
part of Oregon was almost entirely in the Willamette valley. 
Very little use was made of the magnificent timber which ex- 
tended down to tidewater, until California began to use it. 

Probably California would have developed as slowly as 
Oregon but for the influence of the discovery of a few grains of 
yellow metal. On January 24, 1848, just before the treaty of 
peace with Mexico was signed, James W. Marshall, an immigrant 



Isthmian Canal Questions 349 

from New Jersey, picked up some flakes of gold in the race of a 
new sawmill about sixty miles from Sutter's Fort, now called 
Sacramento. The news spread like the cry of fire ; within six 
months the coast settlements of California were almost deserted ; 
the inhabitants hurried to the gold diggings, which were 
"placers" (gravel reaches or terraces) yielding gold in dust, 
coarser particles, and nuggets. Soon all sorts of merchandise 
rose in price three times over ; and some miners by their own 
labor were taking from $3000 to $5000 a month at the diggings. 
The next year thousands of "Forty-niners" made their way 
to California, some around Cape Horn, some across the Isthmus 
of Panama or Nicaragua, some in wagon trains straight west 
across the plains. Between fifty thousand and one hundred 
thousand people poured into California, and in two seasons 
more than $30,000,000 of gold was taken out. If somebody 
"struck it rich," "in half an hour a motley multitude, covered 
with crowbars, pickaxes, spades, rifles, and wash bowls, went 
streaming over the hills in the direction of the new deposits." 
The old Spanish mining laws were inadequate, and the criminal 
laws did not apply to the circumstances; and there was no 
government to pass new statutes. The miners therefore or- 
ganized, made their own mining rules, and set up so-called 
"vigilance committees" for offhand punishment of crimes. 

233. Isthmian Canal Questions (1846-1850) 

The annexation of California at once brought up the ques- 
tion of the control of the Isthmus of Panama. During and after 
the war, travelers and officers used the short cut across the 
narrow lands of Central America (map, pa,ge 533) ; and the idea 
of an isthmian canal was revived. The Isthmus of Panama 
was part of the territory of the republic of New Granada (now 
the United States of Colombia), which proposed (1846) that the 
United States guarantee that isthmus against seizure or inter- 
ference, while New Granada would grant to citizens of the 
United States the use of any canal or roadway that might be 



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352 Advance to the Pacific 

across the Lakes to Canada, which was free soil. The old 
Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 (§ 182) did not work well, and the 
South demanded an act from Congress more favorable to them. 
The proposition to admit California as a free state raised the 
old question of keeping up an equal balance in the Senate. 
Up to this time the principle of balancing states (§ 183) was 
maintained. Arkansas (slave) — -the 25th state — was admitted 
in 1836 and Michigan (free) in 1837, Florida and Texas (slave) 
in 1845 9-^<i Iowa and Wisconsin (free) in 1846 and 1848. Of 
the thirty states in 1849, fifteen were slave and fifteen free. To 
admit California as a free state meant a permanent superiority 
of the North in the Senate, for there was nowhere a southern 
territory ready to enter the Union. 

236. Compromise of 1850 

When Congress met again, in December, 1849, it looked as 
if the Union might break up over these complicated questions. 
Accordingly the aged Henry Clay, "the great pacificator," pro- 
posed, and with all his energies urged a compromise measure, 
by which California should be free while slavery was not to be 
forbidden in New Mexico. His point of view was that New 
Mexico and California came into the Union free by Mexican 
law and would remain free if Congress took no positive action. 
He declared, "No earthly power could induce me to vote for 
a specific measure for the introduction of slavery where it had 
not before existed." 

Another line of argument was set forth by Daniel Webster, 
whose support of the compromise as leader of the "cotton 
Whigs" — that is, the commercial men of the North — made it 
possible to pass the compromise. In his famous "Seventh of 
March Speech," he accused the North of not doing its duty 
by the South. He was willing to say nothing about slavery 
in New Mexico because he was sure that it could never flourish 
there. As he put it, "I would not take pains to reaffirm an 
ordinance of nature nor to reenact the will of God." 



Compromise of 1850 353 

Northern senators like Salmon P. Chase of Ohio scouted the 
idea that the Union was in danger, and denounced any com- 
promise. They looked on Webster as a man who had always 
opposed slavery but was now betraying his own section, in hope 
of getting southern sup- 
port for the presidency. 

There was real danger 
to the Union. Robert 
Toombs of Georgia de- 
clared in open Congress, 
"I do not hesitate to 
avow ... in the presence 
of the living God, that 
if . . . you seek to drive 
us from . . . California 
... I am for disunion." 
In milder terms John C. 
Calhoun, in the last speech 
of his life, argued against 
a compromise, because the 
only thing that could 
pacify the South was for 
the North to stop the agitation of the slavery question. He 
said, "If you, who represent the stronger portion, cannot agree 
to settle ... on the broad principle of justice and duty, say 
so; and let the states we both represent agree to separate." 

In the midst of these discordant arguments, President Tay- 
lor's views were especially important because of his veto power. 
He was opposed to the compromise, but he died suddenly 
(July, 1850). Vice President Fillmore of New York then be- 
came President and signed the five bills into which Clay's 
compromise had been divided : 

(i) New Mexico was organized as a territory, including land 
claimed by Texas east of the upper Rio Grande ; $10,000,000 
was given to Texas for accepting those boundaries. The real 




Henry Clay, about 1848. 
daguerreotype.) 



(From a 



Review 355 

issue of territorial slavery was, so far as possible, avoided by 
stating: (a) that "the Constitution and all laws which are 
not locally inapplicable" should apply to New Mexico ; (b) that 
no citizen of the United States should be deprived of his "life, 
liberty, or property except by the judgment of his peers and the 
law of the land" ; (c) that "when admitted as a State, the said 
Territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the 
Union, with or without slavery, as their constitution may pre- 
scribe at the time of their admission." This was a tacit per- 
mission to hold slaves while it remained a territory. 

(2) The next bill admitted CaHfornia as a free state. 

(3) The Utah Bill, with provisions like those of the New 
Mexico Bill, organized a territory north of New Mexico, ap- 
parently intended to be free. 

(4) A new fugitive slave act provided for a system of United 
States commissioners to try cases in a "summary manner." 

(5) Another act prohibited the slave trade (but not slavery) 
in the District of Columbia. 

237. Review 

Every election from 1840 to 1852 brought a change of parties 
in the national government. Harrison became President in 1841 
and was at once succeeded by Tyler, the Vice President, who 
quarreled with the Whigs on the bank and the tariff. This 
was also a period of local disorders, including the Antirent riots 
and the Dorr Rebellion. Webster settled the long pending dis- 
pute with Great Britain over the Maine boundary (1842). The 
fur traders and others opened up the far West and marked out 
routes to Santa Fe, to Oregon, and to California. 

The Democratic party returned to power in the election of 
1844, when Polk beat Henry Clay. After long opposition by 
the antislavery people, Texas was annexed to the United States 
in 1845. Polk then set out to perfect the title to Oregon and 
accepted the 49th parallel as a compromise boundary. A low 
tariff was passed in 1846. 



356 Advance to the Pacific 

The next step was to acquire California. When Mexico de- 
cHned to consider selHng it, Polk occupied the disputed region 
on the Rio Grande. The resulting Mexican War lasted to 1848, 
when Mexico was obliged to yield the disputed territory north- 
east of the Rio Grande, and also New Mexico and Cahfornia. 
The antislavery people in vain tried to secure the Wilmot Pro- 
viso, which sought to prevent slavery in the new annexations. 

The discovery of gold in California brought a rush of "Forty- 
niners" to California. The United States guaranteed to New 
Granada possession of the Panama Isthmus route (1848). By 
the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 1850, Great Britain and the United 
States took joint responsibility for any future isthmian canal. 

The new annexations caused a controversy in Congress. An 
attempt to extend the 36° 30' line to the Pacific failed, and in the 
election of 1848 Zachary Taylor was chosen President by the 
Whigs. Meanwhile the slave trade in the District of Columbia 
and the recovery of fugitive slaves came up. All these questions 
were settled by the Compromise of 1850 : (i) The boundaries 
claimed by Texas were cut down. (2) California was admitted 
as a free state. (3) New Mexico and Utah were organized as 
territories, with the privilege of becoming slave states if they so 
desired. (4) The slave trade was prohibited in the District 
of Columbia. (5) A new fugitive slave act was passed. This 
settlement was called "a. finality." 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. viii, 339, 343, 346, 354, 372. 
— Bogart, Econ. Hist., 287. — Dodd, Expansion and Conflict, 148, 
159. — Fish, Am. Diplomacy, 229, 231, 232, 268, 272, 294; Am. Nation- 
ality, 486. ■ — ■ Shepherd, Hist. Atlas, 198, 201, 206, 210. 

Secondary. Coman, Econ. Beginnings of the Far West, II. 75-93, 
113-284. — Dodd, Expansion and Conflict, chs. vii-ix; Jejferson Davis, 
chs. iv-vii. — Fish, Am. Diplomacy, 228-279, 290-296; Am. National- 
ity, 249-262, 276-280, 302-325, 333. — Garrison, Texas, ch. xxi ; West- 
ward Extension. — Hapgood, Daniel Webster, 96-1 11. — Hart, S. P. Chase, 
54-130. — Johnson, 5. A. Douglas, chs. v-ix. — McMaster, U.S., V. 
463-483, VI. 429-454, 513-518, 550-637, VII. 1-73, 271-614, VIII. 1-45. 



References and Topics 357 

— Paxson, La^l Am. Frontier, chp. i-vii. — Rhodes, U.S., I. 75-202. 

— Roosevelt, T. H. Benton, 210-301. — Schafer, Pacific Northwest, chs. 
viii-xv. — Schurz, Henry Clay, II. chs. xxiii-xxvi. — Turner, New West, 
ch. viii. — Wilson, Am. People, IV. 88-128. 

Sources. Ames, Stale Docs, on Fed. Relations, 190-192, 229-232, 
241-272. — Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 327-337, 503. — Caldwell, 
Terr. Development, 131-199. — Dana, Two Years before the Mast. — 
Grant, Personal Memoirs, T. 61-174. — Hart, Contemporaries, III. 
§§ 187-189, IV. §§ 7-22; Patriots and Statesmen, IV. 22-25, 79""8i, 270- 
285, 334-382 passim, V. 13-61, 70-130. — James, Readings, §§ 67, 78-80. 

Illustrative. Atherton, Splendid Idle Forties (Cal.). — Canfield, Diary 
of a Forty-niner. — Hall, Doivnrenter's Son (antirent). — Harte, Luck of 
Roaring Camp; Tales of the Argonauts. — Lowell, Bigloiv Papers (ist. 
ser.) ; Present Crisis. — Matthews, Poems of Am. Patriotism, 108-115. 

— Munroe, Golden Days of '4Q. — Potter, Eleventh Hour. — Watts, 
Nathan Burke C^Iex. War). — White, Gold. — Whittier, Antislavery 
Poems, 94-155. — - Wilson, Lions of the Lord (Mormons). 

Pictures. Sparks, E.xpansion. — Wilson, Am. People, IV. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Incidents of the campaign of 1840. [§ 225] — (2) Experiences in 
the West of one: Captain Bonnev'ille; N. J. Wyeth ; Dr. Whitman; 
John C. Fr6mont. [§ 227] — (3) T. H. Benton, o;- James K. Polk as a 
boy and young man. [§§ 227, 228] — (4) Spanish missions in California. 
[§ 230] — (5) Abraham Lincoln's career in Congress. [§ 230] — (6) Ac- 
count of one: big timber; Bear Flag Republic; placer gold diggings; 
Forty-niners ; vigilance committees. [§ 232] — • (7) Account of the Wilmot 
Proviso. [§ 234] — (8) Public career of Lewis Cass, or James K. Polk, 
or James Buchanan. [§§ 229, 234] — (9) Incidents of the "Underground 
Railroad"; or slave trade in the District of Columbia. [§ 235] — (10) Ad- 
mission of one of the following states : Arkansas ; Michigan ; Florida ; 
Texas; Iowa; Wisconsin; California. [§ 235] — (11) Public career of 
owe of the following : Clay; Webster; Chase; Toombs; Fillmore. [§ 236] 

Topics for Further Search 

(12) Account of the " Aroostook War." [§ 226] — (13) Early days 
on the Sante Fe trail. [§ 227] — (14) Was the annexation of Texas 
desirable? [§ 228] — (15) The Hudson's Bay Company on the Pacific 
coast. [§ 229] — (16) Did the Mexican War begin "by the act of 
Mexico "? [§ 230] — (17) Career of Santa Anna. [§ 231] — (18) Was 
the treaty of peace with Mexico just? [§ 231] — (19) Webster's " Seventh 
of March " speech. [§ 236] 



CHAPTER XXII 



ECONOMIC PROGRESS (1830-1860) 

238. Resources of the Country 

In the three decades from 1830 to i860 the growth of popu- 
lation, the accumulation of property, and the development of 
resources were as great as during the previous two centuries of 
settlement in North America. The same spirit of intense life 

and activity was 
shown in busi- 
ness afifairs, as in 
the moral and in- 
tellectual growth 
described in an 
earlier chapter 
(§§ 204-209). 
The American 
mind naturally 
turned to new 
ideas of business 
organization and of mechanical inventions. Free land and 
good employment drew millions of people from the Old World 
and stimulated the use of labor-saving machinery. The desire 
for land and for opportunities to make money was a strong, 
if not the strongest, element in the annexations of territory 
that were noted in the preceding chapter. 

The thing that did most for the growth of the country was 
the immense extent of the resources of nature ; that is, the land 

358 




McCormick's First Reaper, 1834. 



The Land Question 359 

and its capacity to bear crops, the mineral wealth that lay be- 
neath it, the timber that grew upon it, the wild animals that 
lived upon it, the motive power furnished by waterfalls and by 
wood and coal as fuel, and the waterways of lakes, rivers, and 
ocean, which made it easy to exchange these products. The 
people of the United States were in the position of an heir who 
comes into a great fortune which he suddenly finds himself 
called upon to manage and make productive. He is amazed 
at the wealth and the opportunities which are thus put at his 
disposal. 

239. The Land Question 

The first and most pressing question was that of land. The 
people of the United States were still in the situation of the 
colonists. In both the older and the newer states and terri- 
tories there was an abundance of land which had never been 
tilled; and in the older sections large areas were worn out 
and had gone back into brush or forest. The great problem 
was how to make this immense quantity of land available for 
the farmers. 

The point of view inherited from colonial times was that land 
was valuable only for farms, and that it ought to be given or 
sold in moderate tracts to those who could till it. Not a single 
one of the states made any attempt to keep even a part of the 
lands that it possessed. Great areas that fell to Massachu- 
setts, New York, Connecticut in the Western Reserve, and 
Virginia all slipped away and left very little money to the 
state governments. The bounty lands granted by Congress 
to the soldiers of the Revolutionary War and the War of 181 2 
were in many cases sold for a song to speculators. The lands 
granted by the federal government to the new states for educa- 
tion, first a thirty-sixth and then an eighteenth of the whole 
area of the new states, were sold out with very little advantage 
to the states or the school children. The enormous area of 
lands owned by the federal government in the Northwest, in 
hart's new amer. hist. — 23 



360 Economic Progress 

Mississippi and Alabama, and in the new Southwest, was turned 
over as rapidly as possible to settlers and speculators. 

The method of sale from 1800 to 1820 was clumsy. Settlers 
were allowed to buy land on installments at $2 an acre (§ 176) ; 
but many of them failed to make the payments, and in the end 
asked to have a portion of the land transferred to them fully 
paid. For twenty years after 1820 Congress sold land only 
for cash at a standard price of $1.25 an acre. Buyers who had 
the money could take anywhere from forty up to thousands 
of acres at a time. 

~ The result was wild speculation in pubHc lands ; in the two 
years 1835 and 1836 the United States received $40,000,000 
from this source alone. To prevent the accumulation in the 
treasury of a surplus from the lands, various plans were sug- 
gested : (i) to give the lands to the states ; (2) to reserve the 
lands in small tracts for actual settlers ; (3) to distribute among 
the states the surplus from the sales of land. Clay favored the 
third plan, but Jackson in 1833 prevented it by the veto of a 
distribution bill. The most serious cause of the panic of 1837 
was speculation in public lands (§ 222) ; heavy buyers tried to 
"corner" the lands and to sell them at a great advance to 
settlers. 

To meet this difficulty, in 1841 the "Preemption Act" was 
passed, and from that time for about twenty years it provided 
a regular method of getting public land. Any person who was 
the head of a family might buy a tract not exceeding 160 acres. 
He had to live on it for a time, and then he could pay $1.25 
an acre and it became his property, with the right to sell. Under 
the law, this privilege could be exercised only once in a life- 
time ; but there were people who preempted twenty different 
tracts in different land offices, and it was hard to detect the 
fraud. So much state and national land was dumped on the 
market that many of the heavy speculators lost money on their 
ventures. Land was not a very good investment and there 
were hardly any examples of men buying large tracts and di- 



Indians and Indian Lands 361 

viding them into tenant farms, though that was the ordinary 
system in many parts of Europe. 

240. Indians and Indian Lands 

A standing difficulty in settling the lands was the presence 
of Indian tribes who occupied some of the richest sections. In 
the Northwest after the War of 181 2, the Indians were no longer 
able to make headway against the whites. The so-called Black 
Hawk War (1832), in which Abraham Lincoln was a miUtia 
captain, was only a flurry. When the Indians were pushed back 
into reservations which were set apart for their sole use, it was 
possible to open their former lands to settlers. 

In the South the problem was different. Within the bound- 
aries of Georgia alone as late as 1824 there were about 50,000 
Creeks, Cherokees, and Indians of other tribes who occupied 
reservations of eleven million acres. These areas and their 
Indian inhabitants were solely under the control of the federal 
government and not subject to the law of Georgia. When a 
few Creek chiefs undertook to make a treaty ceding tribal 
lands, their fellow Indians did their best to nullify it by killing 
those who signed it. The Cherokees were a well-to-do people 
owning farms and slaves, and they tried to set up a permanent 
government inside the boundaries of Georgia. This led to a 
controversy between that state and the federal government; 
for Georgia, ignoring the rights both of the Indians and of the 
United States, simply annexed the Cherokee territory and de- 
clared the Indians to be under the state laws. 

President Adams vainly tried to defend the Indians. Jack- 
son, when he became President, ruled that Georgia was in the 
right. When the Supreme Court decided a test case in favor of 
the Indians, Jackson said, "John Marshall has made his de- 
cision; now let him enforce it." The Cherokees yielded to 
their fate, and with the Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and 
Seminoles, were moved west of the Mississippi into what for 
three quarters of a century was called the Indian Territory, 



362 Economic Progress 

where they were known as "the Five Civihzed Tribes." Some 
of the Seminoles ran away and came back to their old home in 
Florida ; there for a period of ten years they made good their 
armed resistance against the federal government. Neverthe- 
less, the question was settled that no Indian tribes would be 
allowed, either north or south, to remain in permanent pos- 
session of large tracts of valuable lands desired by settlers. 
A thousand whites could be prosperous where fifty Indians 
could hardly find a living ; and the tribes faded away or were 
removed. 

241. Immigration in i 830-1 860 

One reason for the pressure on the public lands was the 
coming in of great numbers of European immigrants. In fact, 



1,300,000 

1,200,000 

1,100,000 

1,000,000 

900,000 
800,000 
700,000 
600,000 
500,000 
400,000 
300,000 
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Immigrants Arriving in the United States Each Year. 



one of the main reasons why the western states wished to have 
easy land laws was to draw settlers, both from abroad and 
from the eastern states. There was also a steady demand for 
laborers to build roads and canals and to work in shops and 



Immigration in 1 830-1 860 



363 



factories. Life was hard for the workers in all European coun- 
tries ; but any able-bodied man or woman who could reach 
the United States might expect to find employment ; or if he 
had a little money, he could buy land and become a farmer. 

The result was a steady stream of immigrants, who came in 
the sailing vessels of the time. Between 1820 and 1829 about 
110,000 arrived ; in the next decade, over 500,000 people, many 
of whom went straight out to make homes on the frontier. 
From 1820 to 1S40 the population of the West increased from 
2,600,000 to 7,000,000. Chicago in 1833 had 150 wooden 
houses, and a visitor said of it, "Almost 
every person I met regarded Chicago as 
the germ of an immense city." 

From 1820 to 1840 most of the immi- 
grants were EngHsh, Scotch, and Irish, 
all using the English language. They 
furnished much of the unskilled labor in 
the North, but many of them had good 
trades, and others found ready employ- 
ment in the new textile mills and iron 
works. We have little information about 
the numbers coming from the various 
countries. There are records of a small 
immigration from the three Scandinavian 

countries — Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. A considerable 
.^German immigration set in, which grew rapidly when civil 
wars broke out iri Germany (1848). The Germans included 
many highly educated men who could not endure the political 
conditions at home. Some of them, like Carl Schurz, were 
refugees who preferred exile to prison or even death. 

The largest foreign element in this period was the Irish. 
Conditions in Ireland were bad ; in 1846 a famine swept away 
hundreds of thousands. From 1845. to 1855 more than a mil- 
lion came over to this country. The passages of some were 
paid by local governments and societies at home ; others paid 




C.\RL Schurz. 



loi llu'lU!>rl\ «vj (in'jtl iuiiiilu-i:i wcii- luitiif.hl »>\("i .il llu' 
r\|t(Minc ol llx'ii liu'mh* tvittl h'IhIivc;* who li.ul i»ln\ul\ amvcil 
It) ll\f I'mitil Stulrrt, 

;.|j. I'Ikkkci'M Ol Immi(!i; A HON 

A t oini<lri jl>l< p.nl <>l llif \\\.\\ MMini^iiilil^t tind soiih- ol i\\c 
( inM\{\ii'» !trl(l(">l ilowu HI llir Miwpoi l;t iiiul olhci lowii:' ol ihr 
rti'i|(Mi\ ri|i»lor», ImiI iimui^uilion rulh'd lo nil pailM ol llu' iouM 
(i\ V\\v rUIng cllirn ol the mdnoi, .(u li ;i'. ImiII.iIo, ('li-\f 
l(»n(l. 1 'itu'ii\i»i>li, t 'l>l»'HK**< <""' •'^'' ''"III. iilliiulcil ;ionu" lic>li 
(\iul (» liUK*' lUimluM ol (JiMmnu't (Jicitl iuiml>i"i'i ol l>oll> i;\»ci 
(ooK u|> l;niM"i. «>'»!>('( (iill\ m ll\.' \\ ( ■.! 

\\l»ru"\n \\\v\ wrnl. ihr iu\u\if>i;nil'i ht-lpi^l (o imion;»«' tl\i' 
\V('f\lll< ol llx' »ouuh\ In H'tuin ioi iUv'w \\\\\\\c\ \vaf-\rn, \\\v\ 
gnvr llirii hil'.M . llu- Imil.lin^n, nhip^i. \o,'uh. .iHil n\ihliuuM\ 
vvluili \\u'\ iu!((l(' wnr i\ \ii;il i out lilmlion lo ihr luiltonnl 
\vt;»llli I'll I ol ihriu took oviM llu> liaol jolv. ol unikillrd l;il>oi . 
aiiil ll\inl>\ ill.' l>r((ci ohualcil ,iu.l l«cllri li. lined nun .ilic;ulv 
in lIu" MMinltv wru" ;nM lire lo »liu'» ( iiiitl ImiM n|» (MKcipiisrs, 

riir lnnnim«,n(s l>ionv.\l\l witli llinn nuinv ol llirii own ins 
(iMWrt, 'ri\«^ S»>(Uulni;i\ i.in<* wnr PiolojltuntJ*. Moj*t ol llic 
liinh (U\»l non\r ol llir (innnvii'* woir ('(Uliolus. who ;U oim- 
look Ihrii pknc wilhhi Ihr n.ilion.il Cilholit I'liimh ;m>l 
hcl|>«'.l (o l>ml.l il ii|< ri\r (U'nn.iM'. iMony.hl u\(o \\w >vmn(i\ 
thr v"hiiMlin;i"* (irv\ a mrnin lv»vr ol innsu\ ihr numnhn lnu> 
ol tininiin l><nM' i\nil winr, iiml n mciittM inhMvsl in i^hmUion 
(inil hUi.iluir I'lu' In.li luoiii-hl ihiii loiivliu-.'. IvM -.Ir^H'! 
piO»0>f*lvM|n ;liul |>;l>;r;U\l'. iliul \ 01 \ •.v>on >.howv>vl (I skill in 
niiikiim pohti^,•^^ loinlMiuilion's ;in»l huiMinn up pdrllrs, whirh 
Hui. I>1\ iMonchl iht-in nUo ( lu' » rnl»"i ol pohlivdl hU> Soinv vM 
(h«> liv'iinjiii ininii^ijinis l»Minr>l v oinniiinUir>;. mu h (if* (hose ol 
(hr Annum SokivMv in r«Mili;il l»>w;i A iVw o( ihr iSrinuin 
S\vlf*>» «n»l Sv iin>linrtvi;\ns lonnrd '.»•( llonuMil". ol (Iumi own. 
in wln»h ihrv krpi ihvMi l;uiKU;i,m\ s* Iiv>o|n. ;in>l Mislv>ins. llu- 
(WMinanrt Mv\ hifih iJ\MUM<\Hv o\prv'tr»l lv< spnnl [\w'\\ lives aiul 



Timber and Mineral Wealth 365 

raring up their children in America, and hastened to be nat- 
uralized and to become full-fledged citizens. Most of the 
German children quickly learned the English language. Hardly 
any immigrants returned to their native land. 

243. Timber and Mineral Wealth 

One of the most widespread sources of wealth was the timber, 
which even in colonial times had furnished masts, ships, and 
sawed timber and boards for export (§ 77). By 1830 most of 
the northern coast states had been cleared of the valuable 
trees, but there still remained splendid pine forests in northern 
Maine, New Hampshire, and New York. Considerable parts 
of the southern states still stood in timber, which was used prin- 
cipally for the production of tar and turpentine. The Alle- 
gheny Plateau became a great center for the lumber industry 
between 1830 and i860. From western New York and Penn- 
sylvania and eastern and southern Ohio the trees could be rafted 
down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers ; and for fifty years 
this was a steady and profitable business. Local sawmills cut 
timber for farm and city buildings and for bridges. Most of 
the farm fences of that period were made of split rails, and 
when Abraham Lincoln moved into Illinois, he built up a repu- 
tation for his abiUty as a rail spHtter. Sawmills could be run by 
water power or by cheap engines and boilers in which the 
refuse of the mill could be used for fuel. 

The wealth beneath the soil was many times more valuable 
than that growing above it. Coal had been known from early 
colonial times, and after 181 5 began to come into many new 
uses. Benjamin Franklin invented a handy open stove in 
which wood could be used to heat rooms ; and the soft or 
bituminous coal had long been used in Pittsburgh and else- 
where for house purposes. Now came the use of coal for all 
kinds of factories and other business. The cost of pig iron 
was reduced by the discovery that anthracite could be used 
instead of the old-fashioned charcoal to smelt iron (1838). 



366 Economic Progress 

Hence a great iron industry was built up in the Pennsylvania 
mountains near Philadelphia and New York. Eight years 
later the clay furnace in western Pennsylvania made it possible 
to use soft coal for the same purpose, and that led to building 
many iron furnaces near the coal of western Pennsylvania and 
eastern Ohio. Illuminating gas, first manufactured in America 
in 1816, was a new comfort for the cities and enlarged the use of 
coal, which shortly became also the usual fuel for making steam, 
first in factories and then in locomotives and seagoing steamers. 

From very early times it was known that there was a rich 
deposit of lead along the upper Mississippi, especially near 
Galena, Illinois, and a steady and prosperous mining industry 
grew up there. Besides the California mines (§ 232), some 
gold was found in Georgia, and for a long time a little branch 
mint was maintained at Dahlonega in the mountains. Iron 
ore was abundant both east and west of the Appalachian Moun- 
tains, and there was abundance of the limestone that was 
necessary to use as a "flux" in the furnaces, along with the 
fuel and the iron ore, in order to produce pig iron. 

The inhabitants of northwestern Pennsylvania failed to 
realize that underneath their feet lay one of the greatest sources 
of wealth in. the whole country. On Oil Creek, a tributary of 
the Allegheny River, oil had been found in colonial times and 
was collected by spreading out blankets. It was supposed to 
be a remedy for rheumatism. Until 1859 no one thought of 
drilling wells. The common illuminating oil in the eastern 
states was whale oil. In the West some very dangerous oils 
were distilled from coal, but ordinary families depended upon 
candles for their household light. 

244. Industrial Inventions 

From 1825 to i860 the country was producing a series of 
amazing labor-saving inventions, and that made it possible to 
develop cheap raw materials and thus to reduce the cost of 
manufactured products of every kind. The first necessity was 



Industrial Inventions 



367 



the improvement of tools and machinery. In this period comes 
the beginning of the American manufacture of edged tools of 
every kind. Wood-working was cheapened beyond any con- 
ception by the invention of planing machines, one of which 
would do the work of twenty men. The introduction of plat- 
form scales was a great convenience to factories and farmers. 
The factory system, begun 
before the War of 181 2, was 
now adapted to many new 
industries. Improved looms 
were introduced in the textile 
mills, and by i860 there were 
about two thousand mills 
that used them. 

To furnish power for cotton 
mills, woolen mills, paper mills, 
and other industries, dams were 
built on the falls of rivers in the 
eastern and southern states, 
and that caused the appear- 
ance of such manufacturing 
towns as Manchester, Nashua, 
Lowell, Holyoke, Cohoes, 
Trenton, and Richmond. The 
invention of the turbine water- 
wheel (1834) made it possible to use waterfalls of only a few feet. 

The spirit of invention spread to the household. Friction 
matches, invented in England in 1827, gradually took the 
place of the old flint and steel. The first iron cook stove was 
put on the market about 1840 and proved a great relief to 
the labors of the housewife. Churns run by dog power were 
introduced. Fanning mills were used for winnowing grain. 
The methods of farming were changed in many parts of the 
country by the introduction of farm machinery. The first 
horse reaper was patented by a Virginian, McCormick, in 1834, 




Cyrus H. jVIcCormick, about 
1875. (From a photograph lent by 
the family.) 



368 Economic Progress 

and was the basis of the present elaborate mowers and reapers. 
Improved horse rakes, drills, and seeders began to be used. 
About 1840 improved portable threshing machines came into 
use — the early ones run by horse power. 

The inventions extended also to death-dealing contrivances. 
The people had long been used to what had first been called 
"screw guns"; that is, rifles. These weapons were much 
improved, and about 1835 the first Colt's revolver was in- 
troduced. Some attempts were made to invent a breech-load- 
ing service gun, but the ordinary weapon of soldiers was still 
the old-fashioned muzzle-loading, smooth-bore musket. 

245. Transportation by Sea 

One of the greatest changes of the period was the improvement 
of transportation both by sea and by land. As has already 
been noted, steamboats spread rapidly through the eastern 
coast waters and the western lakes and rivers (§ 178). The 
next step was to install steam machinery on seagoing vessels. 
The ordinary marine engine of the time had a heavy walking 
beam which seesawed up and down to carry power from the 
steam cylinders to the paddle wheels. It was difficult to use 
this machinery in heavy seas, but it was adapted for coasters. 

In 1 8 19 the ship Savannah, fitted with auxiliary steam 
power — that is, with engines for use during only part of the 
voyage, when there was too Httle wind to fill the sails — 
voyaged from New York to Savannah and thence to Liver- 
pool. Certain doubters worked out a scientific proof that no 
steamer could carry enough fuel to cross the ocean solely by 
steam power; but in 1838 the steamers Sinus and Great 
Western arrived from England practically under steam alone. 
Two years later the Cunard Company established a regular 
steamship line from Boston to Liverpool. All these early 
steamers had masts and used sail power whenever they could, 
to help them on, or to steady the ship. The bulk of the sea 
freight was still carried in wooden sailing ships. 



Internal Transportation by Water 369 

The growth in the average size of seagoing vessels called 
attention to the need of deepening and otherwise improving 
the harbors. In 1824 Congress began to make small appro- 
priations for such purposes — an expenditure that has since 
grown to many millions a year. Among the early projects 
thus undertaken was the Delaware breakwater (begun in 
1829). 

To carry the growing trade of the United States and that of 
other countries, American shipping engaged in foreign trade 
reached the highest point in our history — 2,500,000 tons 
— ^in 1 86 1. These were the days of the magnificent cUpper 
ships, wooden sailing craft of unexcelled speed and handiness, 
making their swiftest voyages from England to New York 
sometimes in less than fourteen days, and from China to New 
York in about eighty days. 

Screw steamers as yet were mostly ships of war, but the 
ocean paddle steamers grew in size and speed till they could 
cross the ocean in twelve days. In 1847 Congress granted a 
subsidy — an annual money gift — to two lines of steamers : 
$850,000 a year to the Collins American line, New York to 
Liverpool; and $200,000 a year to a line from New York 
to. Bremen. The Collins line was extravagantly managed, 
lost several ships, and broke down in 1858. 

246. Internal Transportation by Water 

The movement of coal, iron ore, and other minerals and 
the carrying of manufactured products brought about a demand 
for improvements in the internal system of transportation. 
Even such highways as the Cumberland Road (§ 179) could 
not carry much heavy freight, and the favorite system of the 
time was the canal. The success of the Erie Canal (§ 180) 
led other states to attempt the same thing across a rougher 
country. Pennsylvania began a canal system across the Alle- 
ghenies in 1826, and six years later had a railroad from Phila- 
delphia to Columbia, a canal thence to the base of the moun- 



370 Economic Progress 

tains, an inclined road for hauling the boats in sections over the 
mountains, and a canal from the other side to Pittsburgh. 




^JlSSISSlPPI RiVtR Steaulrs. 

Several side canals were also constructed by Pennsylvania, 
including one from the Ohio River below Pittsburgh to Lake 
Erie (finished 1844). Ohio in 1825 entered upon the con- 
struction of canals from several places on the Ohio River to 
Lake Erie. Indiana spent $8,000,000, and the 476,000 people 
of Illinois ran into debt $14,000,000, or $30 a head. A few im- 
portant canals were built by private corporations, especially 
the Delaware and Hudson (1820), and the Schuylkill Navigation 
(1818-1825) for carrying coal. Eventually about six thousand 
miles of canals were constructed in the United States, of which 
less than one thousand miles are now in use. 

The old objection to the building of internal improvements 
by the federal government still continued (§ 180). Jackson 
(1830) vetoed a bill for the Maysville Road from the Ohio 
River across Kentucky, on the ground that it was local im- 
provement. He felt sure that the public money would be spent 
for enterprises that did the general public little good. On the 
same grounds he vetoed several harbor bills. Nevertheless, 
Congress yielded on this point so far as to grant immense tracts 



Railroads 



37^ 



of public lands (beginning in 1837) to the states to be used by 
them for the construction of canals and other similar works. 
Th;; result was not very happy. States like Ohio, Indiana, and 
Illinois planned systems of canals so great that the proceeds of 
the land grants were not enough to pay for making them, and 
many of them were left incomplete and have never been re- 
vived. 

247. Railroads 

All other forms of internal improvement were soon cast 
into the shade by railroads, which suddenly cheapened trans- 
portation, stimulated travel, and built up new states and cities. 
The first railroads in America were a short temporary tramway 
for carrying heavy loads, built in 1807 in Boston, and a perma- 
nent one constructed in 18 10 near Philadelphia. Railroads were 
soon begun westward from Albany, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 
and Charleston; but in 1830 only 23 miles had been built 
and were in operation by the various companies, all for cars 
to be drawn by horses. 




A Railroad Train of 183 i. (From a photograph of the original train, 
lent by the New York Central R. R.) 

Soon after 1830 several great changes came about in rail- 
roads. An imported steam locomotive was introduced in 




2,1^ 




j7Z 



374 Economic Progress 

1829 for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company; in 1830 
Peter Cooper built an American locomotive for the Baltimore 
and Ohio, whereby horses were displaced. The inclined 
planes with stationary engines, which were introduced on 
many railroads, were replaced by continuous tracks; and on 
some roads coal was used as a fuel instead of wood. In 1834 
the first long railroad in the world was completed — 136 miles 
from Charleston, South Carolina, to Hamburg, opposite Au- 
gusta. 

The first railroads had stone sleepers, or were built on piles 
driven along the line of the road. At right angles to the 
sleepers were laid the rails, wooden stringers about six inches 
square ; to these were spiked short lengths of wrought iron 
strips perhaps half an inch thick, and the curling up of the 
loosely attached irons was a common source of accident. The 
gauges varied from 4 feet 8 inches to 6 feet. . The cars were 
at first modeled on the old stagecoaches, but the roads soon 
began to build the long car with a platform at each end and 
an aisle through the middle. Trains ran about fifteen miles 
an hour, and the early fares were three or four cents a mile. 
As' there was no system of train dispatching, accidents were 
frequent. 

At first anybody who could pay the tolls was allowed to run 
his cars on the tracks ; but after locomotives came in, it was 
seen that both the roadbed and the motive power must be 
managed together. Several states looked on railroads as only 
a new type of public highway ; and Massachusetts, Pennsyl- 
vania, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, and other states 
built lines of state railroad; others aided new roads with 
grants of money. Since many roads ran from one state into 
another, state ownership was difficult ; and state management 
was expensive and clumsy; hence, eventually most of the 
states sold or leased their lines to private companies. 

The railroad mileage in 1840 was under 3000; in 1850, 9000; 
in i860, 30,000. Till 1850 there was hardly such a thing as a 



Business Organization 375 

through raihoad Hne, but in 1851 the New York and Erie 
Raihoad was finished from New York to Lake Erie, and in 
1853 a continuous chain of separate Hnes of railroad reached 
Chicago from the east. In 1859 raih-oads from the north and 
east reached New Orleans. The railroads now began to be con- 
solidated into systems by uniting them end to end; for ex- 
ample, the five short connecting lines from Albany to Buffalo, 
and five other lateral strips, in 1853 were united under the 
New York Central. 

Beginning with a grant to the Illinois Central in 1850, the 
United States aided western railroads by immense grants of 
public lands. It was a natural suggestion that a road might 
be built to the Pacific in the same way, and Congress went 
so far as to send out several exploring expeditions, especially 
one in 1853, which surveyed various practicable routes. Though 
a railroad was built by American capital across the Panama 
Isthmus and opened for business in 1855, ^^^ plans for an isth- 
mian canal still came to nothing. 

248. Business Organization 

Such great enterprises as new water-power works, canals, 
and railroads could not have been carried out, except by a much 
improved system for doing business, especially after the panic 
of 1837 had shaken out a great number of weak concerns. 
This was the system of incorporated companies, like banking 
corporations, with limited liability and salaried managers. Not 
only canals and railroads, but also turnpikes and bridges, tex- 
tile mills, and other enterprises were carried on by such cor- 
porations. There was lively competition between concerns in 
the same line of business ; but after 1850 some of the companies, 
especially in the telegraph and railroad business, began to com- 
bine into larger corporations. 

One of the results of the enlarged business and profits was the 
growth of a class of wealthy men. John Jacob Astor made large 
investments in New York real estate, and left a great fortune to 



376 Economic Progress 

his family, which they have kept through four generations. 
Others made large fortunes out of railroad building or iron 
manufacture or out of wholesale business, such as dry goods or 
groceries. Most of them were self-made men who had begun 
as wage earners. They had money to put into new buildings, 
piers and ships, and railroads. They owned bank stock and 
helped to carry on the banking business. Retail lines of busi- 
ness were almost all carried on by small firms. It was the 
habit of the country storekeeper to make a trip once or twice 
a year to the most convenient wholesale point, New Orleans, 
Baltimore, or New York, and buy goods for the next season. 
At that time no firms sent out traveling salesmen. 

The banking business during Jackson's administration was 
much confused and there were many heavy losses. After the 
panic of 1837 several of the states, especially Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania, and Louisiana, adopted laws similar to the New 
York safety fund system (§ 222). In some states all the 
banks contributed to a fund for redeeming the notes of failed 
banks. In other states they were obhged to keep a specie re- 
serve in order to protect the note-holders. In several states, 
especially Kentucky, Indiana, and Alabama, the states them- 
selves went into the banking business, in some instances pro- 
hibiting any other banks. Throughout the country, however, 
the doubtful and bad banknot:^s were a great obstacle to 
busines.j. In i860 it was estimated that there were five thou- 
sand different issues of worthless or doubtful or counterfeited 
banknotes in circulation. Every time a merchant received 
money, he had to consider whether the bills were perfectly 
good, ought to be taken at a discount, or should be refused. 

249. The Fur Trade 

In the far West there was only one line of profitable trade 
and that was the fur industry, which held over from the colonial 
period, and which was one of the main things that led to the 
annexation of Oregon and California. The center of that trade 



The Fur Trade 377 

was always St. Louis, because it was at the mouth of the Mis- 
souri River, the basin of which embraced a large part of the fur 
country east of the Rockies. There were two or three very 
important firms, of which the Sublettes were the most noted. 
They fitted out parties of factors and trappers who made their 
way up the river to such points as Fort Benton, where they had 
permanent posts. Some of them employed trappers of their 
own on annual salaries, others depended chiefly on Indians to 
bring in the pelts. The traders, in caravans, frequently took 
goods into the heart of the Indian country, and dealt with the 
wild men there. P'or many years there was a running fight 
between the traders and certain tribes of Indians. The Black- 
feet were notorious for their habit of robbing and murdering 
whites. 

The most valuable fur then, as in colonial times, was the 
beaver, which was supplied in large quantities and always 
brought a good price ; although there were some rare pelts such 
as the otter which commanded higher prices. Besides the 
animals that were trapped, the buffaloes furnished a large 
trade in their long-haired pelts; the warm buffalo robes were 
used like blankets all over the northern part of the country. 
Though the buffaloes ranged far north in the Rockies, their great 
habitat was the plains from the INIissouri River west to what is 
now Colorado. There they roamed in uncounted millions, 
furnishing food and tent materials for the neighboring Indians, 
and the hides were brought east by thousands. 

The fur traders were the first to discover the great through 
routes across the continent. They early followed up the Platte 
River and discovered an easy divide north of Great Salt Lake 
to the upper waters of the Lewis or Snake River, which was a 
branch of the Columl)ia ; though it lay so deep in a canyon that 
the usual route crossed over the Blue Mountains direct to the 
Columbia River. Neither Astor nor other fur traders from the 
United States were successful in the fur trade on and around 
the Columbia, chiefly because of the strong competition of the 



378 Economic Progress 

Hudson's Bay Company. Some of the traders, however, were 
the first to discover a practicable route across the Sierra Nevada 
to California, and they also developed the route up the Sacra- 
mento River and thence across mountains into Oregon. 

250. Expansion of Commerce (1840-1860) 

One object of the annexation of Oregon and California was 
to secure ports for direct trade with the Pacific islands, China, 
and Japan. The halfway station of the Sandwich or Hawaiian 
Islands had for twenty years been under the influence of Amer- 
ican missionaries, and the native dynasty recognized that the 
interests of the United States were greater than those of any 
other power. Chinese trade, however, was much hampered 
by restrictions in Chinese ports. In 1844 Caleb Cushing, sent 
out by the United States, was able to secure a very desirable 
commercial treaty by which five Chinese "treaty ports" were 
designated for American trade; American consuls were al- 
lowed to hold court for cases involving their countrymen ; and 
American merchants and other people got the right to buy 
pieces of ground for their own occupancy, "and also for hos- 
pitals, churches, and cemeteries." 

Japan refused to admit any traders or foreign merchantmen 
on any terms, till the United States sent Commodore Matthew 
C. Perry to open up relations. He entered ports "where no 
European vessel had ever been seen ; he succeeded in breaking 
in the shell of the old empire; and he secured a favorable 
commercial treaty in 1854. 

The annexation of California affected the country in still 
another way. The gold from that state furnished coins which 
freely circulated ; and gold at once became a new export, having 
very large value in small bulk. After 1848 also, there was 
a great foreign demand for American breadstuffs. Exports in 
1856 were nearly three times as great as in 1846. 

The revenues of the government from duties on imports 
rose so fast that a new tariff was passed by a nonpartisan vote 



Review 379 

(March 3, 1857). Every member from Massachusetts and 
every member from South CaroHna voted for the bill, which 
decreased the existing low duties of 1846 (§ 229) by about a 
fifth ; and the average rate of duties was brought down to about 
20 per cent. Before the new tariff could have any effect, a 
commercial panic came upon the country, caused principally 
by the expenditure of about $70,000,000 on railroads in ten 
years. The panic began in August, 1857, and in October all 
the banks in the country suspended specie payment ; many 
railroads failed ; and first and last more than five thousand 
business houses broke, with losses of more than $150,000,000. 
The federal government saw its annual revenue reduced from 
$76,000,000 to $46,000,000 ; and it was obliged to issue treasury 
notes for its expenses. Still there was no such widespread suf- 
fering and no such check to business as after the panic of 1837, 
and by i860 business was again normal. 

251. Review 

The three decades after 1830 were a period of great expansion, 
not only in population but in business, politics, and intel- 
lectual life. Large quantities of the western lands passed out 
of the hands of the government at a low price, or were made 
absolute gifts to old soldiers or to states. In 1841 a Pre- 
emption Act was passed, intended to restrict sales to actual 
occupiers. Many of the Indian tribes occupied reservations; 
and in the South the Creeks and Cherokees made preparations 
to remain against the wishes of Georgia. The Indians were 
obliged to move west of the Mississippi. 

Great numbers of people moved from the East to the West, 
and hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived from foreign 
countries. At first most of them came from English-speaking 
countries. Then came Germans, Scandinavians, and others. 
Large numbers of Irish came after 1845. 

In various parts of the country there was a great lumber 
trade, and hard coal and soft coal were developed as fuel for 
hart's new amer. hist. — 24 



380 Economic Progress 

houses,- for making steam, for gas, and for making iron. Oil 
wells were discovered in western Pennsylvania. New inven- 
tions and processes increased the output of manufactures of 
all kinds, and inventive genius was applied to household and 
farm implements. 

Steam was applied to seagoing steamers, and after 1838 to 
trans-Atlantic steamers, but the American shipping was mostly 
of wood, including the splendid clipper ships. Congress appro- 
priated some money for subsidies to steamer lines to Europe. 
On land, long stretches of canals were built, but Congress refused 
to spend money for such objects. Railroads for general trans- 
portation came in just before 1830, and several of the states built 
public lines. The federal government aided with immense 
land grants (after 1850), but most of the roads were owned by 
private companies. Commerce was expanded by trade with the 
Orient, and Japan was opened to trade in 1854. A lower tariff 
was passed in 1857. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 372-373. — Bogart, Ecou. 
Hist., 232, 241, 490. — Coman, Indust. Hist., 224, 250. — Dodd, 
Expansion and Conflict, 133, 134, 139. — MacDonald, Jacksonian 
Democracy, 178, 182. — Shepherd, Hist. Atlas, 202. 

Secondary. Bassett, U.S., 461-468. — Bogart, Econ. Hist., 160- 
187 (§§ 141-165), 212-288 (§§ 186-242). — Carlton, Organized Labor, 
ch. iii. — Chittenden, Am. Fur Trade. — Coman, Ecor. Beginnings of 
the Far West, I. 300-375; Indust. Hist., ch. vii. — Day, Commerce, ch. 
xlviii. — Dodd, Expansion and Conflict, ch. iii. — Fish, Am. National- 
ity, 173-192 passim, 242, 264-276, 333-335. — ^ Hart, Formation of the 
Union, §§ 136, 137. — MacDonald, Jacksonian Democracy, chs. viii, 
X, xvi. — McMaster, U.S.,Y. 121-183 passim, 537-540, VI. 79-94, 220- 
232, 327-335, 421-429, 464-466, 518-523, VII. 221-227. — Raymond, 
Peter Cooper, 1-51. — Schouler, U.S., III. 370-380, 477-480, IV. 
122-131, 233-235. — Turner, New West, chs. xiii, xvii. — Wilson, 
Division and Reunion, §§ 20, 21, 23, 24, 52, 81, 82. 

Soiirces. Ames, State Docs, on Fed. Rels., 113-132. — Bogart and 
Thompson, Readings, 276-282, 285-295, 376-484, 507-542. — Caldwell 
and Persinger, Source Hist., 380-387. — Callender, Econ. Hist., chs. 



References and Topics 381 

vii-ix, xiii, xiv. — Hart, Coniemporarics, III. §§ 165-167; Patriots and 
Statesmen., III. 304-309, IV. 148-152, 186-189, 272-277, 320-379 
passim, V. 186-189, 246-259. — James, Readings, §§ 73, 75, 82. — 
Johnson, Readings, §§ 94-97. — -Old South Leaflets, nos. 147, 151. 

Pictures. Bogart, Econ. Hist. — Coman, Indust. Hist. — Dunbar, 
Hist, of Travel in Am. — Mentor, serial no. 87. — Sparks, Expansion. 



Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Abraham Lincoln as a frontiersman, or in the Black Hawk War. 
[§ 240] — ■ (2) Moving the Indians west. [§ 240] — (3) Immigration in 
sailing vessels. [§ 241] — (4) Early life in some western city. [§ 242] — 
(5) Early use of anthracite as fuel, or of coal to smelt iron, or of illu- 
minating gas. [§ 243] — (6) Early lead mining in Illinois, or gold mining 
in the South. [§ 243] — (7) Invention of the reaper. [§ 244] — (8) Early 
journeys by steamers on the Atlantic Ocean, or on eastern coast waters, 
or on the Great Lakes, or on the Mississippi, or on small rivers. 
[§§ 245, 246] — (9) First steam locomotives. [§ 247] — (10) Early 
travel by rail. [§ 247] — (11) Fur trade on the upper Missouri River. 
[§ 249] — (12) Fur traders and Indians. [§ 249] — (13) Perry's expedi- 
tion to Japan. [§ 250] 

Topics for Fixrther Search 

(14) Frontier life on government land after 1830. [§ 239] — (15) Early 
immigration from Scandinavia, or from Germany, or from Ireland. 
[§ 241] — (16) Influence of one of the following races on the United 
States: Scandinavians; Germans; Irish; English; Scotch-Irish; 
Scotch; Welsh. [§ 242] — (17) Life in one of the following factory 
towns: Lowell; Lawrence; Nashua; Holyoke ; Cohoes; Trenton. 
[§ 244] — (18) Account of the clipper ship trade. [§ 245] — (19) Ac- 
count of one of the following canals : Pennsylvania east and west line ; 
Pittsburgh and Erie ; Ohio Canal ; Sandusky to Cincinnati ; Fort 
Wayne. [§ 246] — (20) First surveys for a Pacific railroad. [§ 247] — 
(21) Early trade relations with China, or with Japan. [§ 250] 



CHAPTER XXin. 

SECTIONAL CONTROVERSY (1850-1859) 

252. Why Slavery divided the Country 

In spite of the Compromise of 1850, which both parties pro- 
nounced a "finality," the slavery question continued to be the 
most serious and hotly contested issue in the minds of the 
American people. The abolitionists never ceased to hold meet- 
ings and publish papers and write pamphlets against slavery. 
They looked on the Compromise of 1850 as simply a means of 
giving a free hand to the slaveholders. Though the abolitionist 
societies were fewer and smaller than a few years earlier, the 
number of antislavery men and women was much greater in 
the North, because the long debates over the annexation of 
Texas, New Mexico, and California had aroused public feeling. 

The movement against slavery was greatly aided by a book 
called Uncle Toni's Cabin, written by a New England woman, 
Harriet Beecher Stowe. It first appeared as a serial in 1851, 
and afterward in many editions in book form. The book was 
not written with the expectation of affecting politics; but it 
expressed a bitter feeling of injustice, that any man should be 
allowed to own another man. It made the whole world see the 
human side of negro character, the kinship of men of every 
race. It was the only antislavery book that was widely read 
and discussed in the South. 

How far Uncle Tom's Cabin is a truthful picture of slavery 
has been much disputed. Mrs. Stowe had seen something of 
slave life in Kentucky ; and some of the incidents, such as 
Eliza's escape on the ice, were actual events. The purpose 

382 



National Questions of Slavery 383 

of the book was to call attention to the inevitable cruelty of 
human bondage and its degrading effect on the master, and 
to that end the author made use of liarrowing scenes, all of 
which were possible under slavery, and many of which were 
like incidents set forth in the southern newspapers of the time. 

253. The States in the Slavery Contest 

The abolitionists always l)uilt upon the fact that slavery, 
wherever it existed, was founded on laws made by the state 
and not by the nation. If half the states in the Union could 
prohibit slavery, the other half might do the same, if they 
could be persuaded or terrified into doing so. But not a single 
slaveholding state would budge; not a single law was passed 
to prevent such abuses as the breaking up of negro families by 
sale, or the sale of little children away from their mothers. 

On the other hand, the free states were induced to pass laws 
unfavorable to slavery, which usually were called "Personal 
Liberty Bills." Under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 a free 
negro who was suspected of being a fugitive might be arrested 
without any real examination of the facts ; and in many in- 
.■^tances free men were thus kidnaped and sent into slavery. 
To meet this danger, the northern states began about 1840 to 
pc^ss acts forbidding the state officials to take any part in pro- 
ceedings against such persons. So far the states were acting 
within their rights ; but either before or after the Fugitive 
Slave Act of 1850, statutes were passed in all the northern 
states, except two, interfering in various ways with the opera- 
tion of the national fugitive slave statute. All these acts 
showed that the free states, Constitution or no Constitution, 
would not recognize any responsibility for slavery. 

254. National Questions of Slavery 

Though slavery was made by state action and could be un- 
made or weakened by the same power, it could not be kept 
free of some control by the federal government. That was 



3^4 



Sectional Controversy 



the main reason why the Compromise of 1850 was a failure: 
it could not stop the discussion with regard to slavery ; and 
notwithstanding its so-called "finality," discussio:i in Congress 
continued under four different clauses of the Constitution : 

(i) The Constitution gave Congress power to legislate for 
:he District of Columbia "in all cases whatsoever." For 
.hirty years abolitionists urged and petitioned Congress to 
prohibit slavery in the District, and they were not in the least 
pleased with the limited act of 1850 on this subject (§ 236). 

(2) Congress had complete power over both the foreign and 
the interstate slave trade ; the foreign slave trade was pro- 
hibited by the act of 1807 (§ 183), but as late as 1859 some 
southern writers demanded that the African slave trade be re- 
opened. The domestic trade was never restricted except in 
the District of Columbia after 1850. 




Routes of the " Underground Railroad " for Fugitive Slaves. 

(3) Congress had power over the recovery of fugitive 
slaves and exercised it in the two acts of 1793 and 1850, 
the latter of which was especially hated by the antislavery 
element. Southerners complained of the increasing use of the 
" Underground Railroad " ( § 235). 

(4) Under its general power to regulate the territories. Congress 



National Questions of Slavery 385 

prohibited slavery by four statutes applying to four definite 
areas : (a) the Ordinance of 1787, for the Northwest Terri- 
tory, reaffirmed by an act of Congress of 1789 (§ 115); (b) 
the Missouri Compromise of 1820, covering all the Louisiana 
cession north of 36° 30' except the state of Missouri (§ 185) ; 

(c) the Texas resolution of 1845, prohibiting slavery in states 
that might be formed in Texas territory north of 36° 30' (§ 228) ; 

(d) the Oregon Act of 1848, prohibiting slavery in that terri- 
tory (§ 234). It was clear that any future annexation of ter- 
ritory would lead to a fierce contest to decide which section 
should control the new region. 

The conflict in Congress was intensified by the appearance 
of several ardent antislavery men in both houses. The first 
such senator was John P. Hale of New Hampshire (1847). 
Then in 1849 came Chase of Ohio, William H. Seward of New 
York, and in 1857 Sumner of Massachusetts. Seward, born 
in 1 80 1, went to Union College and was for a short time tutor in 
a slaveholding family in the South. He entered politics in 
New York state and was twice Whig governor of New York 
( 1 839-1 843). His intimate friend and political manager was 
Thurlow Weed, one of the most adroit, long-headed, and un- 
scrupulous politicians in the history of the country. 

In the debate of 1850 Seward was the leader of the antislavery 
forces against the compromise. His argument was that com- 
promises settled nothing, and that it was useless to try to pro- 
vide for such questions before they came up. In his speech 
Seward let fall a phrase which seemed monstrous to the South : 
"The Constitution devotes the domain to union, to justice, to 
defense, to welfare, and to liberty. But there is a higher law 
than the Constitution, which regulates our authority over the 
domain, and devotes it to the same noble purpose." What 
he meant to say was that the law of God agreed with the Con- 
stitution ; what he was understood to say was that the higher 
law nullified the Constitution, which recognized 'slavery as 
existing in some states and territories. 



386 



Sectional Controversy 



255. Fugitive Slave Cases (1851-1858) 

The slaves themselves helped to keep their cause before the 
public mind because every year a few of them ran away into 
free states. The radical antislavery people ignored and scouted 
the Fugitive Slave Act, and in many instances resisted it. 
Among such affairs the most startling cases were those of 
Shadrach, Gorsuch, and Burns. 

Early in 185 1, an undoubted fugitive named Shadrach was 
arrested in Boston and brought before the United States com- 
missioner. Before the proceed- 
ings ended, an eyewitness said, 
"We heard a shout from the 
courthouse continued into a yell 
of triumph, and in an instant 
after down the steps came two 
huge negroes bearing the prisoner 
between them with his clothes 
half torn off, . . . and they went 
off toward Cambridge, like a 
black squall, the crowd driving 
along with them, and cheering 
as they went." 

In September, 1851, a Mary- 
land man named Gorsuch, who 
had pursued runaways to Chris- 
tiana, Pennsylvania, was killed by a band of negroes, probably 
including his own slaves. A Quaker named Castner Hanway 
was present and refused to aid Gorsuch. An attempt was 
made to frighten the abolitionists by trying Hanway for treason 
for this refusal to take part in capturing a fugitive. The 
prosecution, however, broke down, and the slayers of Gorsuch 
were not found. 

In 1854, while a fugitive named Burns was confined in the 
United States courthouse in Boston, a mob of abolitionists, in 




tv^^j^ 



Runaway Slave. (Cut used 
in newspaper advertisements.) 



President Pierce and Cuba 387 

an attempt to rescue him, broke in the door and killed one of 
the deputy marshals. 

Attempts were made to prosecute the rescuers of Shadrach 
and other fugitives ; but juries would not convict. The truth 
was that northern pubUc sentiment was so strong that it was 
hardly worth while for southern slave owners to appeal to the 
Fugitive Slave Law. The northern state governments would 
not assist in sending a hunted fugitive back to lifelong captivity 
for no crime except that of being born a black slave. 

256. President Pierce and Cuba (1852-1855) 

. So far the slavery question had had little effect on parties, 
except for the group of Free-soilers (§ 234), who cast only 
300,000 votes in 1848. Still the two old parties were losing 
vitality. No serious issue existed between them : the Whigs 
no longer insisted on a United States bank, or national internal 
improvements, or a protective tariff; while inside each party 
there was a strong and fierce division on slavery. 

In the political campaign of 1852 the Whigs nominated Win- 
field Scott of Virginia, a good soldier, but a weak candidate. 
The Democratic convention, after a fierce competition, nom- 
inated an inconspicuous man, Franklin Pierce of New Hamp- 
shire, who had been in Congress and had served creditably in 
the Mexican War. Pierce received 254 electoral votes to 42 
for Scott, though the Whigs succeeded in polling nearly 1,400,000 
popular votes against 1,600,000 for the Democratic ticket and 
155,000 for the Free-soil Democrats, which was the name taken 
by the antislavery party. 

President Pierce made William L. Marcy of New York 
Secretary of State, and Jefferson Davis of Mississippi Sec- 
retary of War. In his inaugural address he showed a strong 
leaning toward slavery by proposing to annex Cuba, a rich 
slaveholding island (§ 190). This was not a new idea. Presi- 
dent Polk in vain offered Spain a hundred million dollars for 
the island in 1848, and from 1849 to 1851 several expeditions of 



388 Sectional Controversy 

"filibusters" — that is, of volunteer adventurers — were 
fitted out in New Orleans, to land men in Cuba. One of them, 
under Lopez, was captured by the Spaniards, and Lopez with 
about fifty of his followers was executed. 

President Pierce appointed Pierre Soule, of Louisiana, as 
minister to Spain. He was an ardent "fire eater," as extreme 
advocates of slavery were called, and he bent all his energies 
to acquire Cuba. The time for a war of conquest seemed to 
have arrived when the American steamer Black Warrior was 
seized in Havana for a technical violation of the customs regu- 
lations (March, 1854). 

While this question was pending, Soule and two other foreign 
ministers drew up the "Ostend Manifesto" (October, 1854), 
which was an open avowal that Cuba must be annexed in 
order to protect slavery. If Spain should refuse to sell Cuba 
for a fair price, the manifesto declared, "then by every law, 
human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain 
if we possess the power [lest] we permit Cuba to be Africanized." 
Marcy's influence was against annexation, and the United States 
accepted a settlement of the Black Warrior difhculty (February, 
1855). This proved to be a deathblow to the plan of annexation. 

257. Douglas and the Nebraska Bill (1854) 

The main reason for holding back from Cuba was the trouble 
that Pierce's administration had with the Nebraska question. 
After 1820 the region west of the Missouri River remained with- 
out a territorial government, which was much needed when the 
overland travel to California began on a large scale in 1849 
(§ 232). Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, chairman 
of the committee on territories, introduced a bill for the or- 
ganization of Nebraska Territory (January 4, 1854). The 
Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery there, but Douglas 
asserted that that compromise had been set aside by the New 
Mexico and Utah bills in the Compromise of 1850 (§ 236), and 
he insisted on "popular sovereignty" or "squatter sover- 



Douglas and the Nebraska Bill 389 

eignty " ; that is, the right of the people of a territory to make 
their own laws, Hke the people of the states. After various 
twists and turns he was compelled to come into the open and 
declare in the text of his bill that the antislavery clause of 
the Missouri act "is hereby declared inoperative and void." 
The point in dispute was whether the "principle" of the act 
of 1850, which in terms applied only to the annexation of 1848, 
could "supersede" the details of the act of 1S20, which in 
terms applied only to the Louisiana cession. 

In this controversy 
Douglas represented a 
strong influence which 
eastern men did not 
understand. Born in 
Vermont in 18 13, he 
early went to IlUnois, 
where he held various 
state offices, including 
that of judge of the 
Supreme Court. In 
1847 he was sent from 
Illinois to the Senate, 
and there represented 
those crude but deter- 
mined political forces 
which had earlier made 
Jackson President. He 
came from a constituency which was accustomed to care for 
itself, and which therefore thought it as reasonable that the 
people of a territory should settle the question of slavery 
as that they should settle the question of schools. Later 
in his career he made the significant admission that he "did 
not care whether slavery was voted down or voted up"; but 
he was very ambitious, and there is no doubt that he was 
looking forward and hoped to convince the southern Democrats 




Stephen A. Douglas, about 1850. 



390 Sectional Controversy 

that he would be a safe and powerful candidate for the presi- 
dency in the next election. Still Douglas was one of the few 
statesmen interested in the future of the West. His theory of 
" squatter sovereignty " fitted in with the general principles 
of democracy. 

Of all American public men, Douglas was the fiercest debater. 
Though a short man, he had a big voice which poured forth 
anything that came into his mind, especially a coarse and 
effective personal abuse of those who opposed him. He was 
quick and forcible, and never much concerned himself about 
accuracy or consistency. His main defect was that he could 
not understand the moral opposition to slavery. 

258. Trouble in Kansas (1854-1856) 

In the course of the discussion about the Nebraska bill, the 
measure was amended so as to divide the new territory into 
two territories, Kansas and Nebraska, showing a plain expec- 
tation that Kansas, which lay immediately west of Missouri, 
would become a slaveholding community to balance California. 
In spite of the bitterest opposition, ably led by Chase, Douglas 
got 37 votes for his bill in the Senate against 14, and then 
forced the bill through the House by a vote of 108 to 100. He 
had already arranged with President Pierce, who duly signed 
the bill (May 30, 1854). Perhaps Douglas began to see his 
error in allowing slavery to enter a free area when, on the test 
vote on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in the House, half the north- 
ern Democrats refused to go with him ; and still more when in 
the Congressional election in the fall of 1854 most of the half 
who supported him lost their seats. 

The difficulty with Douglas's principle of ''popular sover- 
eignty " was that it put upon the first rush of settlers in a new 
territory the responsibihty of deciding whether the future state 
should be free or slaveholding. Hundreds of Missourians 
saw this chance and at once crossed over into Kansas a;id en- 
tered up land for farms which most of them did not mean to 



New Republican Party 391 

occupy. On the antislavery side, several emigrant aid com- 
panies were founded in New England, and within about three 
years sent out six thousand free-state men, as permanent set- 
tlers, many of them armed with a new weapon of precision, the 
Sharps rifle. In the first Kansas election for members of the 
territorial legislature (March, 1855) 2905 legal voters were 
somehow credited with 6307 votes. Hundreds of armed Mis- 
sourians came over into Kansas, and set up or drove away 
election officers at their will. Thus they elected a large ma- 
jority of the legislature, which passed a code of laws to estab- 
lish slavery. 

To protect themselves against this minority rule, the anti- 
slavery people attempted to set up a free-state government. 
The rival settlers and neighbors came to civil war in the spring 
of 1856. About two hundred lives were sacrificed and the 
free-state town of Lawrence was sacked. Among the most 
reckless of the free-state people was a man named John Brown, 
who turned out whenever there was a fight ; and in May, 1856, 
he directed his men to seize and kill some proslavery neighbors 
at Osawatomie. President Pierce took sides* in favor of the 
bogus territorial legislature and broke up the free-state govern- 
ment at Topeka (July 4, 1856). 

259. New Republican Party (1854-1856) 

Both the Whig party and the Democratic party were split by 
the Kansas- Nebraska Bill, and a great effort was made to form a 
new party. It first took the form of a short-lived American 
party, created on the principles of dislike of Catholics and dis- 
trust of foreigners. This organization was backed by a power- 
ful secret society, the members of which always rephed to any 
question about their society, "I know nothing about it," 
and they were commonly called "Know-nothings." They car- 
ried the state government of Massachusetts, and extended into 
the southern states, but they soon broke into factions over the 
slavery question. Horace Greeley said that you might as 



392 Sectional Controversy 

well try to form an "anti-potato-rot party" as an anti-foreign 
party. 

The antislavery men could count on their 155,000 voters in 
the election of 1852 (§ 256), and were a lively element in a new 
and strong political combination with those "anti-Nebraska" 
Whigs and Democrats who opposed Douglas's squatter sover- 
eignty. To this new party the name "Republican" was given, 
probably for the first time, at Jackson, Michigan (July, 1854). 
Their main principle was to put a stop to the extension of 
slavery. By all sorts of fusions and coaUtions of Know-noth- 
ings, Republicans, Whigs, and Democrats, the anti-Nebraska 
people carried fifteen states in 1854, and elected eleven senators 
and a small majority of the House of Representatives. 

In 1856 the Republicans, who were called by their opponents 
"Black Repubhcans," girded themselves up for the presidential 
election. Instead of nominating Seward, their ablest man, 
they put up John C. Fremont (§§ 227, 231) who was popularly 
supposed to have conquered CaUfornia. To the grief of Stephen 
A. Douglas, the Democrats passed him over, precisely because 
he had roused such opposition by helping the South in his Kan- 
sas-Nebraska Bill ; instead they nominated for the presidency 
James Buchanan of Pennsylvania. 

In the election of 1856 Buchanan received 174 electoral votes 
to 114 for Fremont, and the Republicans failed to secure the 
House for 1857-1859. Yet Fremont had 1,300,000 votes 
against 1,800,000 for Buchanan; and carried every northern 
state except New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois. 

260. President Buchanan and the Territories 

When James Buchanan was inaugurated as President in 
March, 1857, there was a temporary lull in the controversy 
between the sections. Upon the face of it, the quarrel was no 
more serious than the earher struggles over the bank or the 
tariff or internal improvements. The northern and southern 
state? had about the same kind of state governments, appealed 



President Buchanan and the Territories 393 

to the same principles of the equal rights of all free men. The 
only pressing trouble was the condition of Kansas ; and Presi- 
dent Buchanan appointed Robert J. Walker of Mississippi as 
territorial governor, with a promise that the people might 
choose a convention to form a state constitution, which was 
then to be submitted to the voters in the territory. 

One other territorial question proved troublesome to Bu- 
chanan : this was a serious disturbance in the territory of 
Utah. At that time, most of the overland traffic to Cahfornia 




Mormon Church Buildings, Salt Lake City. (Tabernacle, built 1870; 
Temple, built 1893.) . 

went by wagon roads which passed near Great Salt Lake. 
That neighborhood was settled by the Mormons (§ 205), who, 
under their new prophet Brigham Young, came out to Salt 
Lake in 1847, laid out farms, began an irrigation system, and 
founded a city. Young publicly announced that he had re- 
ceived a direct revelation from the Almighty, by which polygamy 
was to be part of the Mormon religious system. The Mor- 
mons furnished a battalion of United States troops for the Mex- 
ican War, and made no objection to the cession of 1848, which 
brought them within the United States. When Utah Territory 



394 Sectional Controversy 

was created in 1850 (§ 236), Brigham Young was made the 
first governor. 

The Mormons wanted to be let alone, and made trouble for 
the federal officials. In 1857 Buchanan appointed a new ter- 
ritorial governor, and sent with him 1500 troops to support 
his authority over the Mormons, who were reported to have 
burned the court records, and to be in a state of rebellion. 
Governor Brigham Young declared there was no rebelHon or 
disorder ; he forbade the troops to enter the territory, and 
called out the mihtia, which captured some of the government 
supply trains and tried to starve out the federal troops. The 
following year, however, the new governor was peacefully in- 
stalled, Buchanan proclaimed amnesty for the Mormons, and 
the troops entered the territory unmolested. 

261. Kansas and the Dred Scott Decision (1857) 

Before the plan for relieving what the antislavery people 
called "Bleeding Kansas" could be carried out, the antislavery 
spirit was much intensified by a decision of the Supreme Court 
on the question of territorial slavery. Congress had failed to 
settle that question by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the 
settlers in Kansas had vainly tried to settle it by a little civil 
war. Yet the Supreme Court attempted to put an end to the 
controversy by a decision in the famous case of Dred Scott vs. 
Sandford. The facts were that Dred Scott, the slave of a Dr. 
Emerson, had been taken from Missouri, first to IlHnois, which 
was covered by the Northwest Ordinance (§ 115), and then to 
what is now southern Minnesota, a region covered by the 
Missouri Compromise (§ 185). Dred Scott without objection 
then accompanied his master to Missouri, but some years later 
he sued for his freedom on the ground that his master had 
voluntarily taken him into regions where slavery was prohibited. 

The case went through three trials in lower courts. In 
March, 1857, six of the nine judges of the United States Supreme 
Court united in the assertion that the Missouri Compromise 



Kansas and the Dred Scott Decision 395 

was no protection to Dred Scott, because that act had always 
been unconstitutional, inasmuch as Congress had no power to 
deal with slavery in the territories. So far the opinion agreed 
with Douglas's report on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill ; but at least 
four of the judges turned down the Douglas doctrine of popular 
sovereignty (§ 257), by holding that neither Congress nor a 
territorial legislature could prohibit slavery in a territory. That 
is, the Court, so far as it could, supported slavery as a national 
institution, which was normal in every territory and could be 
ended only by a regular state government. Chief Justice 
Taney also laid down the principle that Dred Scott could not 
sue, because no negro could be a citizen of the United States, 
and added that at the time of the Revolution negroes "had no 
rights which the white man was bound to respect." 

Curtis and McLean, two judges from northern states, denied 
all these conclusions and especially the unfounded statement 
that negroes had been shut out of the political community 
at the time of the Revolution (§ 112). The result was that 
Dred Scott remained a slave, but in fact he was immediately 
set free by his legal owner. The decision was so drastic that 
the antislavery men and the leaders of the Republican party 
declared that they would not be bound by it. 

While the Republicans were in a state of rage and suspicion 
on account of the Dred Scott decision, a proslavery territorial 
convention met at Lecompton and drew up a constitution for 
the future state of Kansas (1857). Contrary to Buchanan's 
promise (§ 260), the convention did not submit their work to 
popular vote, but instead offered merely a choice of two clauses 
concerning slavery : the voters were to cast their ballots only 
for "Constitution with Slavery" or for "Constitution with no 
Slavery" but not against the Constitution; and whichever 
form might carry, the slaves then in the territory were to re- 
main slaves. The "free-state" Kansans refused to cast any 
vote on what they considered to be a fraudulent constitution ; 
so it easily carried "with Slavery." In the territorial election, 
hart's new amer. hist. — 25 



396 Sectional Controversy 

meanwhile, they had secured a majority of the territorial legis- 
late ^, which ordered another election to vote on the Lecompton 
constitution ; and in that election the constitution was rejected 
altogether by a very large vote. Nevertheless, Buchanan in- 
sisted that the Democratic majority of Congress should force 
Kansas into the Union under the proslavery Lecompton con- 
stitution (1858). On a final test ordered by Congress, the 
people of Kansas by a crushing vote refused to be made a 
slave state against their will, and therefore they remained a 
territory till 1861. 

262. Rise of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1858) 

The effort to make Kansas a slave state was flatly against 
Douglas's doctrine of popular sovereignty, and he refused to 
support it. His term in the Senate v/as about to expire ; and 
in the campaign in IlUnois a rival claimant appeared for the 
seat, in the person of Abraham Lincoln of Springfield. At this 
time, he was an obscure country lawyer who wrote up his 
autobiography as follows : 

"Born, February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky; 

" Education defective ; 

" Profession a lawyer ; 

"Have been a captain of volunteers in the Black Hawk War ; 

" Postmaster at a very small office ; 

"Four times a member of Illinois Legislature ; 

"And was a member of the lower house of Congress." 

Lincoln rose steadily from the squalor of a poor white family, 
living in Kentucky, then in Indiana, and later in Illinois. After 
trying surveying and storekeeping, he practiced law, went to 
the legislature, was an early Whig and became known through- 
out the state for his good stories, homely sayings, and honest 
attention to the cases intrusted to him. In 1841 he visited the 
South, and he called slavery "a thing which has, and con- 
tinually exercises, the power of making me miserable," From 
1847 to 1849 li^ sat in Congress (§ 230 j. 



Rise of Abraham Lincoln 



397 



^ 



K^r:*:^ 




When the Kansas- 
Nebraska question arose, 
Lincoln came out firmly 
for the antislavery cause. 
When design red by the 
lUinois Republicans as 
their candidate for the 
senatorship against 
Douglas (1858), he ac- 
cepted in a magnificent 
speech, of 
which the text 
was: "A house 
divided against 
itself cannot 
stand. I be- 
heve this gov- 
ernment can- 
not endure 
permanently 
half slave and 
half free." 

He next took 
the bold step 
of challenging 
Douglas to a 

series of public joint debates. In this contest, Douglas accused 
Lincoln of seeking the social equaUty of the negro, to which 
Lincoln replied: "In the right to eat the bread without the 
leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal, 
and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living 
man." Lincoln skillfully compelled Douglas to put forth what 
was called the "Freeport doctrine," to the effect that the people 
of a territory might actually prevent slavery by "unfriendly 
legislation." This was in accordance with "popular sover- 



LiNcoLN Studying Law. 



39^ Sectional Controversy 

eignty," but was contrary to the Dred Scott decision (§ 261). 
Partly because of his "Freeport doctrine," Douglas was re- 
elected to the Senate ; but when he went back to Washington he 
found that the southern Democrats, who controlled the party 
organization, refused to recognize him as an associ? e in the party. 

263. John Brown's Raid (1859) 

The most striking event of the year 1859 was the attempt of 
John Brown (§ 258) to cause a slave insurrection by establish- 
ing a camp for runaway negroes in the southern mountains. 
He secured money and counsel from some New England friends, 
recruited twenty-two men, and descended upon Harpers Ferry 
(October 16). He seized the United States arsenal, sent out 
parties to capture some of the white planters, and tried to 
rouse the neighboring slaves, who were expected to carry 
ofif a quantity of the government arms. The whole country- 
side was in an uproar; but the negroes did not rise, and the 
engine house in which Brown had fortified himself was finally 
taken by United States marines under Colonel Robert E. 
Lee. Brown was wounded and captured, and ten of his men 
were killed. 

It is greatly to the credit of Virginia that Brown had a fair 
and open trial. He was duly convicted of murder and treason 
against Virginia, and was sentenced to be hanged. He some- 
how won the respect of his jailers and southern visitors; but 
he never had the slightest feeling of remorse or guilt, and went 
to his death without fear. In his last letter to his family he 
solemnly said, "John Brown writes to his children to abhor, 
with undying hatred also, that sum of all villanies, slavery." 
Moderate northern people condemned Brown's methods, but 
could not help admiring his heroic spirit. John Brown prob- 
ably did more than any other man to convince the South that 
slavery was no longer safe within the federal Union, so long as 
abolitionists were willing to sacrifice their own lives to free 
other people's slaves. 



Review 399 

264. Review 

Congress was again driven into the slavery struggle by its 
power to legislate on slavery in the federal District, on the 
slave trade, on fugitive slaves, and on slavery in the territories. 
The aid given by the abolitionists to fugitive slaves, including 
violent rescues in several cases, aroused the slave owners. 

Franklin Pierce, as President, set out to annex Cuba. This 
plan, which led to the Ostend Manifesto of 1854, was interrupted 
by a bill introduced by Douglas for a new territory. He proposed 
to allow slavery there on the ground that the Compromise of 
1850 "superseded" the Missouri Compromise. 

The Kansas-Nebraska Bill became law; but the antislavery 
men at once seized upon this new principle of "popular 
sovereignty," by colonizing Kansas. 

After a brief attempt by the Know-nothings to found an anti- 
foreign party, the Republican party appeared. The various 
opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska act elected a majority in 
the House in 1854, but in the presidential election of 1856 the 
Democrats elected Buchanan as President. 

The Supreme Court decided in the Dred Scott Case (1857) that 
neither Congress nor the people of a territory could prevent 
slavery in a territory. This aroused the Republicans, who 
also objected to the Lecompton Constitution, made by a pro- 
slavery convention and not submitted to a popular vote. 

Abraham Lincoln of Illinois came forward in 1858 as an 
antislavery champion in a series of debates with Douglas. The 
next year the whole country was aroused by the attempt of 
John Brown to raise a slave insurrection in Virginia. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 384, 403. — Chadwick, Causes 
of the Civil War, 80. — Dodd, Expansion and Conflict, 180, 237. 

Secondary. Bassett, U.S., 485-504. — Brown, Lower South, 50- 
82; S. A. Douglas. — Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, chs. i, iii-vi; 
U.S. and Spain, T. chs. xii, iii. — Fish, Ant. Nationality, 327-354. — ■ 
Foster, Century of Diplomacy, 335-356. — Hart, Foundations of Am, 



400 Sectional Controversy 

Foreign Folicy, io8, 127; 5. F. Chase, 130-177. — Johnson, 5. A. 
Douglas, chs. x-xvii. — Linn, Mormons, 458-542. — Lothrop, IF. //. 
Seward, chs. vi-x. — McMaster, U.S., VIII. 45-68, 133-442. — Morse, 
Abraham Lincoln, I. 93-160. — Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, I. 
chs. xviii-xxv, II. chs. i-xi. — Pendleton, A.H. Stephens, chs. vi-viii. — 
Rhodes, U.S., I. 207-302, 384-506, II. 1-416. — Schouler, U.S., V. 
202-454. — Siebert, Underground Railroad. — Villard, John Brown. 

Sources. Atn. Hist. Leaflets, nos. 2, 17, 23. — Ames, State Docs, on 
Fed. Rels., 272-310. — Harding, Select Orations, nos. 19-22. — Hart, 
Contemporaries, IV. §§ 29-48; Patriots and Statesmen, V. 130-250. — 
Hill, Liberty Docs., ch. xxi. — Lincoln, Works, passim. — MacDonald, 
Select Docs., nos. 85-92. 

Illustrative. Brooks, Boy Settlers (Kan.). — Cable, Strange True 
Stories of La. — McLaws, The Welding. — Morgan, The Issue. — 
Orpen, Jay- Hawkers (Kan.). — Fa,terson, For Freedom's Sake (Kan.). — 
Sherlock, Red Anvil (fugitives). — Stedman, How Old John Brown took 
Harper's Ferry. — Stowe, Dred; Uncle Tom's Cabin (slavery). — 
Trowbridge, Neighbor Jackwood (fugitives). — Whittier, Antislavery 
Poems, 159-213; Brown of Osawatomie. 

Pictvures. Sparks, Expansion. — Wilson, Am. People, IV. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Personal Liberty Bills. [§ 253] — (2) Slave-trading ships after 
1830. [§ 254] — (3) Public career of one of the following : John P. Hale; 
Sumner; Seward; Thurlow Weed. [§ 254] — (4) Details of one of the 
following fugitive slave cases : Shadrach; Gorsuch ; Burns; Hamlet; 
Jerry ; Crafts ; Williamson. [§ 255] — (5) Public career oioiie of the follow- 
ing: Pierce; Marcy; Jefferson Davis; Douglas. [§ 256] — (6) Account 
of the New England Emigrant Aid Society. [§ 258] — • (7) John Brown 
at Osawatomie. [§ 258] — (8) Early history of the Republican party. 
[§ 259] — (9) Mormon migration to Utah. [§ 260] — (10) Abraham 
Lincoln from 1849 to 1857. [§ 262] — (11) Lincoln-Douglas debate. 
[§ 262] — (12) John Brown's raid. [§ 263] 

Topics for Further Search 

(13) Influence of Uncle Tom's Cabin. [§ 252] — (14) Why was a ter- 
ritorial bill needed for Nebraska? [§ 257] — (15) Was the Missouri 
Compromise superseded by the Compromise of 1850? [§ 257] — (16) Ob- 
jections to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. [§ 258] — (17) The Know-nothing 
party. [§ 259] — (18) Contemporary criticisms of the Dred Scott 
decision. [§ 261] — (19) What was the " Freeport doctrine "? [§ 262] 



■ CHAPTER XXIV 
DIVISION BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH (1860-1861) 
265. Election of i860 

A NEW contest for the presidency began as soon as Buchanan 
was elected in 1856; for the RepubUcans had great hopes of 
carrying all the northern states in 1S60. The Dred Scott 
decision, the Lecompton controversy, and the Lincoln-Douglas 
debate all helped them in their policy as an antislavery party. 
They had a small majority in the House of Representatives 
from 1859 to 1 861, but the Senate remained strongly Democratic. 
Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, leader of the extreme proslavery 
party, introduced a series of resolutions into the Senate (Feb- 
ruary, 1S60), which after some debate were passed by 35 to 
21 votes. They declared: (i) that Congress ought to inter- 
fere, if necessary, to protect slavery, thus going beyond the 
Dred Scott decision (§ 261) ; (2) that the northern states 
ought to stop public agitation by the abolitionists ; (3) that 
the states were sovereign. 

In effect, the resolutions gave notice that the election of a 
President who opposed those principles might be made an ex- 
cuse for breaking up the Union; further, that unless these 
extreme views were accepted by the federal government, the 
slaveholding states would have a constitutional right to break 
up the Union. Hence the whole country watched the regular 
Democratic convention which met at Charleston, South Caro- 
lina in April. Douglas had a majority of the delegates, but the 
southerners insisted that he should accept a platform which 

401 



402 



Division between North and South 



was substantially the Davis resolutions. Douglas was willing 
to pledge himself to "abide by the decisions of the Supreme 
Court"; but he could not promise to support any plan for 
forcing slavery into an unwilling territory. 

On that difference the convention split ; the delegates of most 
of the southern states withdrew, and the convention adjourned. 
It reconvened at Baltimore in June, and, after another split, 
Douglas was there nominated, on the platform proposed by his 




PROCRESSIVE DEMOCRACV PROSPECT or A SMASH UP. 



Election Cartoon of i860. 

friends at Charleston. The southern bolters met separately 
and nominated John C. Breckinridge, then Vice President of 
the United States. 

Many of the old southern Whigs, and the northern Whigs 
who had not become Republicans, united in what they called 
the Constitutional Union party, and nominated John Bell of 
Tennessee, on the brief platform, "The Constitution of the 
country, the union of the States, and the enforcement of the 
laws." 

The Republican convention met in Chicago (May 16), in 
an immense hall, with thousands of spectators. It was gen- 



404 Division between North and South 

erally expected that Seward would be nominated, but he was 
thought too radical ; what was wanted was a moderate western 
man who could carry the doubtful states of Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Abraham Lincoln was the most 
available among such men; and on the third ballot he was 
nominated. 

The campaign was fierce and exciting. On election day 
(November 6), i8o Lincoln electors were chosen against 72 for 
Breckinridge, 39 for Bell, and 12 for Douglas. Lincoln had 
the necessary majority of all the electoral votes, though of the 
popular vote, he had only 1,900,000 against 1,400,000 for Doug- 
las, 850,000 for Breckinridge, and 600,000 for Bell. Yet if 
his opponents had concentrated on any two, or any one, of 
the other candidates, the result of the election would have been 
the same ; for the Republicans had a majority in every northern 
state except New Jersey, California, and Oregon. 

266. Secession of Seven States (1860-1861) 

During the campaign it was freely predicted that the election 
of Lincoln would lead to secession. To most northern men the 
threat seemed preposterous. Nevertheless, on the day after 
the national election, the South Carolina legislature took steps 
toward calling a secession convention, and within a few days 
the principal federal officers in South Carolina resigned their 
ofl5ces. Hardly a Union man could be found in the whole state ; 
not one was elected to the convention. 

During the next seven weeks South CaroHna was in turmoil ; 
federal buildings and supplies were seized, and companies of men 
were drilled. The excitement culminated when the secession 
convention at Charleston, by a unanimous vote (December 
20, i860), passed an ordinance declaring that South Carolina was 
no longer a part of the Union. A member of the convention 
said, "We have carried the body of this Union to its last rest- 
ing place, and now we will drop the flag over its grave." 

In this awful crisis the country hardly had a President. 



Secession of Seven States 



405 



Buchanan had long stood on the same poHtical ground as the 
radical southerners, and he called in Jefferson Davis to advise 











AURAIIAil LiNCULX IN 18OO. 



4o6 Division between North and South 

him. The President's message to Congress (December j) 
was a helpless document ; he laid all the trouble to " the inces- 
sant and violent agitation of the slavery question throughout 
the North for the last quarter of a century." As for secession, 
Seward neatly summed up the message as follows: "The 
President has conclusively proved two things : (i) that no state 
has a right to secede unless it wishes to ; and (2) that it is the 
President's duty to enforce the laws unless somebody opposes 
him." 

After secession, the South Carolina government immediately 
demanded the surrender of the forts within its borders; and 
while the question was pending, Major Anderson, in command 
of the scanty force in Charleston harbor, moved his troops 
(December 26) from the exposed Fort Moultrie into the strong, 
isolated Fort Sumter. Floyd, Secretary of War, insisted that 
he should give up Fort Sumter. Jeremiah Black, Secretary of 
State, and Edwin M. Stanton, who had just entered the Cabinet, 
declared that in that case they would resign. "You don't 
give me any time to say my prayers," said Buchanan; "I al- 
ways say my prayers when required to act upon any great 
state affairs." In the end he yielded to his northern advisers, 
and Anderson was left in Fort Sumter. 

It was understood from the first that other states would 
follow South Carolina, and between January 9 and February 
I, six other state conventions, specially chosen for that pur- 
pose, voted secession ordinances. The six additional stateb 
were Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and 
Texas. In two of them, Alabama and Georgia, there was a 
strong opposition and a close vote. In all these states, before 
secession, most of the United States mints, posts, arsenals, forts, 
public buildings, and public property were seized. All that 
remained in federal hands were Fort Pickens, below Pensacola, 
Key West and the Dry Tortugas on detached islands, and Fort 
Sumter in the harbor of Charleston. 

The next step was to combine the seceded states into a union. 



Southern and Northern Grievances 407 

In February, 1861, a convention of delegates from six states 
met at Montgomery, Alabama, drew up a "provisional con- 
stitution" for "The Confederate States of America," and elected 
Jefferson Davis of Mississippi President of the new Confed- 
eracy, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia Vice President. 
A Cabinet was duly appointed by President Davis. The con- 
vention reorganized as a provisional Congress and sat for 
a year. During that time a permanent constitution was 
framed. 

267. Southern and Northern Grievances 

The whole North was convulsed by the seven secessions, and 
asked what were the reasons for breaking the Union. The 
grievances of the South were expressed in addresses of conven- 
tions, in pamphlets, newspapers, public speeches, and state- 
ments by southern members of Congress from their seats ; their 
charges against the North were numerous and angry. The 
most important grievances may be stated as follows : 

(i) General hostility. That the North was bent on making 
money for itself, and was no longer interested in the general 
welfare of the Union. The charge was later made that the 
existing tariff discriminated against the South; but in i860 the 
South made no such complaint ; in fact all the South Carolina 
members of Congress had voted for that tariff. 

(2) Breach of the Constitution. That the North misinter- 
preted the Constitution, and would not admit the doctrine of 
state rights and secession; that the Republicans meant to 
overturn the Dred Scott decision; and that, by the personal 
liberty laws, the northern states defied the Constitution. 

(3) Antislavery. That the North hated slavery and allowed 
abolition meetings and newspapers and members of Congress 
to speak abusively of the slaveholders ; and that the northern 
people approved of John Brown's insurrection. 

(4) Territorial slavery. That the North would not admit 
any more slave states or allow the annexation of slaveholding 



4o8 Division between North and South 

territory, and was trying to draw a "cordon of free states" 
around the South and thus slowly to strangle slavery. 

(5) Election of Lincoln. That the choice of an antislavery 
President was an act of hostility to the South and would result 
in an attack on slavery in the states. 

In this list the main and deciding grievance is briefly 
that the North disliked slavery, wanted to check it, and al- 
lowed people to discuss it. As Robert Toombs of Georgia 
put it, "What is wanted is that the North shall call slavery 
right." It is also true that the South was fast losing strength 
in Congress. By the admission of Minnesota in 1858, Oregon 
in 1859, and Kansas (34th state) in 1861, the number of free 
states was raised to 19, as against 15 slaveholding states. 

A feeling of injury and wrath was also widespread in the North 
because of grievances expressed substantially as follows : 

(i) Territory. That the southerners had for years been 
forcing the annexation of territory in order to strengthen slavery. 

(2) Free speech. That the South had arrogantly attempted 
to put down free speech and a free press in the northern states, 
and even in Congress. 

(3) Citizenship. That by the South Carolina negro seamen 
act of 1820 and other statutes against the movement of free 
negroes, the southern states violated rights of northern negro 
citizens which were guaranteed by the Constitution. 

(4) Violence in Kansas. That the Kansas episode showed 
a determination to foist a slavery constitution by fraud and 
violence on the people of a practically free territory. 

(5) Political control. That the slave power had ever since 
1829 practically controlled the presidency, the Supreme Court, 
the Senate, and the House (except for two Congresses), and 
now wanted to leave the Union when other people began to 
come into control. 

(6) Secession. That the South entertained doctrines of se- 
cession which were contrary to the Constitution and destructive 
to the Union. 



Basis of Secession 409 

268. Basis of Secession 

Were there no Union men in the South? There were thou- 
sands. A few were permanent Union men, such as Sam Hous- 
ton of Texas, and James L. Petigru of South Carohna, who 
marched out of St. Michael's Church, in Charleston, when 
prayers were first offered for the President of the Confederacy ; 
but most of them, like Alexander H. Stephens, yielded when 
their states seceded. Stephens, born in 181 2, educated in North 
Carolina, entered Congress as a Whig in 1843. Though 
little and boyish in appearance, he was soon recognized as 
one of the strongest men in Congress. When the crisis of 
1861 came, Stephens headed the opposition to the secession 
of his state, Georgia. He urged that the southern people had 
not been entirely blameless, and that the only real ground for 
secession was the personal Hberty laws, which would probably 
be withdrawn if a proper effort were made. 

Nearly all southerners admitted that the majority in each 
state should decide whether there was sufficient reason for se- 
cession ; but they upheld the principle that if there was sufficient 
reason, there was an undeniable right to withdraw from the 
Union; and they felt that such a secession ought not to be 
looked upon by the North as a breach of the Constitution 
or as a hostile act. The southern theory of secession can 
be traced back to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions 
(§ 152) and the nullification doctrine (§ 201). It was, in ef- 
fect, that secession was not war, but a constitutional and 
practical way of getting rid of the controversy between the 
sections. 

Even admitting that secession was right, many serious ques- 
tions were left undecided : 

(i) The constitutionaUty of secession was not self-evident, 
though it was accepted not only by southern public men, but 
by some in the North. Once admit that the states were sov- 
ereign and the Constitution only a compact, and any state 



410 Division between North and South 

was undoubtedly entitled to leave the Union whenever it wished. 
But had the states ever been sovereign? 

(2) The expediency of secession, even if it were constitu- 
tional, depended on what the secessionists wanted. Some 
preferred to go out of the Union, so as to put a pressure on 
the North to readmit them on such terms as they might dic- 
tate; but Davis and other leaders from the first intended to 
form a permanent southern government, and they confidently 
expected all the slave states to join them. 

(3) Secession under any circumstances was really a solution 
of the problem only if it did not lead to war. Most southern 
leaders thought the North would not fight ; others foresaw a 
long war, notwithstanding the arguments for the constitutional 
right of secession, but were sure that the South would be 
successful in the end. 

(4) The most potent reason for the whole doctrine of seces- 
sion was clearly that it offered a means of relieving slavery 
from the dangers that were growing up under the Union. When 
the Georgia convention declared for secession, Stephens an- 
nounced that he would go with his state, and later made a 
famous speech in which he said of the Confederate constitution : 
"Its foundations are laid, its corner stone rests upon the great 
truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that 
slavery ... is his natural and normal condition." This left 
unanswered the question whether slavery would be protected 
by a war between South and North. 

269. Attempted Compromise (1860-1861) 

As soon as the danger of secession was realized, four des- 
perate attempts were made to stop it by framing a compromise, 
something like those which had averted trouble in 1820, 1833, 
and 1850 (§§ 185, 218, 236): 

(i) Special committees of the House and Senate were ap- 
pointed (December, i860), to try to prepare bills or consti- 
tutional amendments that would hold the Union together. 



Attempted Compromise 411 

In the Senate committee, the Repubhcans offered a proposition 
(which we now know was drafted by Abraham Lincoki) to the 
e£fect that neither the federal government nor the free-state 
governments should interfere with slavery in the states ; but 
they added the very unwelcome clause that fugitive slaves should 
have a jury trial. Jefferson Davis, as the southern spokesman 
in the committee, demanded that the free states should be 
put under obligation to protect slave owners who might wish 
to carry slaves across free territory or to hold them there for 
short periods. 

(2) The House committee submitted the 'Xorwin Amend- 
ment" against interference by Congress with slavery in the 
states, and both houses approved it but it never was ratified 
— it was too weak and too late. Plainly, neither side really 
desired compromise. 

. (3) As yet the secession movement had not spread to the five 
"border states" — Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, 
and Missouri — nor to the next tier of southern states — 
North Carohna, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Senator Crittenden 
of Kentucky brought forward a set of constitutional amend- 
ments intended to keep these doubtful states in the Union. 
The plan included a division of future territory between free- 
dom and slavery; and against it Lincoln, as President-elect, 
used all his personal influence over the Republicans in Congress. 
He felt that any compromise which recognized, extended, and 
perpetuated territorial slavery was an admission that the Re- 
publican party had no reason for existence. 

(4) A fourth attempt at compromise was a "Peace Congress," 
called by the border states at Washington in February, 1861. 
This body sat for a month and made a report, which was sub- 
stantially the Crittenden compromise ; but it could make no 
headway. 

Neither side would give way in Congress or outside on the 
main issue, which was whether the federal government would 
thereafter throw its influence for or against slavery. The 



412 Division between North and South 

Republicans would not agree to let slavery alone; and the 
South would not agree to accept any limitation of slavery by the 
federal government. 

If the North would neither consent to secession nor make 
a compromise, what was left but to keep the seceding states 
in the Union by force? To this remedy there were many 
objections. Thousands of people in the North, especially some 
of the abolitionists, thought the country would be better off 
without the slaveholding states ; the army and navy were small 
and scattered ; and President Buchanan argued that there was 
no way of "coercing a state." Yet some action had to be 
taken, because the sites of the few southern forts still in posses- 
sion of the United States had been formally ceded by the states 
to the Union, and to give them up would be an acknowledg- 
ment of the right of secession. 

Fort Sumter, which lay in the sea channel of Charleston, be- 
came the storm center. When the merchant ship Star of the 
West, carrying the stars and stripes, appeared with provisions 
and reenforcements f or the fort (January 9, 1861), she was fired 
upon by a South CaroUna battery, and compelled to turn 
back. Major Anderson wisely referred the whole matter to 
the government in Washington ; and the South waited for the 
new Lincoln administration to declare its position. 

270. Lincoln's Purposes (1860-1861) 

For three months after his election, Lincoln remained 
quietly at his home in Springfield, arranging his Cabinet, receiv- 
ing delegations, listening to office seekers, and keeping his eye 
on Congress. He early selected Seward to be his Secretary of 
State, and gave Chase of Ohio and Cameron of Pennsylvania 
to understand that they could come into his Cabinet. He 
also sent word to General Scott (December 21, i860), asking 
him to be prepared "to either hold or retake the forts, as the 
case may require, at and after the inauguration." 

In February, 1861, Lincoln started eastward, and made a 



Lincoln's Purposes 413 

series of speeches in which he foreshadowed his future poUcy. 
"On what rightful principle," said he, "may a state, being not 
more than one fiftieth 
part of the nation in soil . >ifc 

and population, break up 
the nation?" March 4, 
1 86 1, Lincoln appeared at 
the Capitol, took the oath 
of office, and in his inau- 
gural address sounded the 
keynote of his administra- 
tion. "I hold that in 
contemplation of univer- 
sal law and of the Con- 
stitution, the Union of 
these states is perpetual 
. . . and to the extent of 
my ability I shall take 
care . . . that the laws of 
the Union be faithfully ex- 
ecuted in all the states. 
. . . Physically speak- 
ing, we cannot separate. 
We cannot remove our 
respective sections from 
each other, nor build an 
impassable wall between 
them." 

Lincoln's first official 
act was to select his 
Cabinet, and he showed 
his political wisdom by 
choosing about equally 

among former Whige and lj^^coln delivering his Inaugural 
former Democrats. To Address, 186 i. 

hart's new amer. hist. — 26 




414 



Division between North and South 



Chase of Ohio, the ablest of thepoUticalaboUtionists, he assigned 
the treasury. Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, rather against 
Lincoln's judgment, was made Secretary of War. Edward 
Bates of Missouri, Attorney-General, was a southern Republi- 
can ; Gideon Welles of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy, was 
a former New England Democrat. Caleb B. Sniith of Indiana 
was Secretary of the Interior, and Montgomery Blair of Mary- 
land was Postmaster-General. 

271. Capture of Fort Sumter (1861) 

The question of Fort Sumter could not be long postponed, 
because commissioners of the Confederate government ap- 




Interior of Fort Sumter after Eombardment, April, 186 i. 

peared and demanded its surrender. The President, therefore, 
asked for written opinions from the members of his Cabinet, on 
provisioning Fort Sumter. Montgomery Blair was the only 
member of the Cabinet who advised using force. Seward un- 



Capture of Fort Sumter 415 

wisely assumed that he was to be the real head of the admin- 
istration, and took it upon himself to say through third parties 
to the southern commissioners that he was sure that the fort 
would be given up. A few days later (April i) Seward sent to 
the President a remarkable letter, in which he proposed to take 
charge of the government, and make war on Spain, France, and 
England, so as to bring back the seceders to defend the United 
States. Lincoln replied that the President must do whatever 
v/as done, and Seward at last accepted the fact that the 
President was his chieftain. 

Lincoln was convinced that even if he gave up the forts, it 
could only postpone war ; for the old questions of fugitive slaves, 
of boundaries, and of the territories would instantly come up 
again, and the new separate Confederacy was certain to de- 
mand more than was expected by the southern states before 
secession. 

Batteries were by this time constructed around Charleston 
Harbor, commanding Fort Sumter. When Lincoln at last sent 
a notice that he purposed to forward a supply of provisions to 
Sumter, he threw on Jefferson Davis and the Confederate states 
the responsibiUty of firing the first gun. Even the extreme 
southerner Robert Toombs objected and said to Davis : "Mr. 
President, at this time it is suicide, murder, and will lose us 
every friend at the North. ... It is unnecessary ; it puts us 
in the wrong ; it is fatal." 

He was overruled, and instructions were given to General 
Beauregard, in command of the Charleston district, to reduce 
Fort Sumter. At 4 : 30 a.m. of April 12, 1861, the first shell was 
fired. With his sixty men and a few laborers, Anderson de- 
fended himself against forts manned by seven thousand men. 
After thirty hours of bombardment. Fort Sumter was knocked 
about his ears, while the relief expedition lay helpless outside 
the bar. Further resistance being useless, Anderson surren- 
dered the fort, April 14, marching out with colors flying and 
drums beating, and saluting his flag with fifty guns. 



41 6 Di\-ision between North and South 

2-2. 'SL\sj2sG Ready for War 

April 15. I So I. President Lincohi issued a proclamation call- 
ing on the state governors to send 75,000 state militia, and this 
action in\-ited the border states to take iides with either South 
or Xorth. Mrginia at once seceded ; Arkansas, Tennessee, and 
Xorth Carolina followed. Xot so the other border states, 
although their governors all refused to send militia. Thus the 
governor of ^lissouri repUed, "The requisition is illegal, uncon- 
stitutional, and revolutionary- lq its object, inhuman and dia- 
bolical, and cannot be compHed with." Delaware remained 
quiet. Mar}'land for a time seemed likely to secede ; and the 
Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, while passing through the city 
of Baltimore (April 19), was attacked by a mob and several men 
were killed — the first blood of northern troops shed in the Ci\il 
War. In Kentucky, the legislature had already voted that 
'■ Kentucky should maintain a strict neutrality.'' Later there 
was a nominal secession legislature, but the regular government 
of the state remained lo\-al throughout the war. In ^Missouri a 
camp of secessionists was formed in St. Louis, but the Germans 
in the city remained lo\-al, were drilled and organized, and 
under Captain Lyon broke up the camp (May 10 1 . 

Who shall describe the excitement, wrath, and grief in the 
Xorth while Fort Sumter was umder bombardment? On 
Sunday, the day of surrender, hundreds of northern ministers 
called on their congregations to support the government. Xext 
day the members of the mili tia companies hinrried to their 
armories ; the states opened their arsenals for arms and military 
suppKes ; banks offered milli ons of dollars in loans to the state 
governments : the legislatures appropriated imheard-of sums for 
military' suppUes : the women joined with the men in fitting out 
the soldier and bidding him Godspeed. As the need grew more 
urgent, the flower of American youth volimteered. and some 
colleges were almost broken up by loss of students. Even the 
President's old enemy, Stephen A. Douglas, came to him, and 



Review 417 

otifered any service that he could give for the preservation of 
the Union. 

The first full regiment to report was the Sixth Massachusetts, 
raised among the farmers and townspeople around Lexington 
and Concord, and its reception in New York is t^'pical of the 
popular feeling all over the Union. "We saw the heads of 
armed men, the gleam of their weapons, the regimental colors, 
all moving on, pageant-like; but naught could we hear save 
that hoarse, heavy surge — one general acclaim, one wild shout 
of joy and hope, one endless cheer, rolling up and down, from side 
to side, above, below, to right, to left." 

Meantime in the South there was a like enthusiasm — regi- 
ments in gray marched to the front amid the shouts and prayers 
of the people. Both sides were sure they were right. Which side 

would win ? 

273. Review 

In i860 the Democratic party divided into two factions: 
one nominated Douglas and the other Breckinridge, an ex- 
treme proslavery man. The Repubhcan convention nominated 
Abraham Lincoln. Part of the old Whigs formed a Consti- 
tutional Union party and nominated Bell. Lincoln was elected 
by carrying nearly all the northern states. A few weeks later, 
South Carolina passed an ordinance of secession and was followed 
by six other states. Buchanan was helpless, -but under great 
pressure left the federal garrison in Fort Sumter, inside the 
harbor of Charleston. The seven seceded states formed "The 
Confederate States of America. " 

The two sections were thoroughly aroused, each accusing the 
other of attempting to use the federal government for its sec- 
tional advantage. The main grievance was that the election 
of Lincoln showed that the North intended to prevent any 
more slave territory or slave states. Many southern leaders 
were opposed to secession, but when their state conventions 
declared for withdrawing from the Union, nearly all of them 
"went with their states." 



41 8 Division between North and South 

Several efforts were made in Congress to frame a constitu- 
tional amendment that would stop secession ; but the two sides 
could not agree, and Lincoln opposed a compromise. When 
he became President he declared against secession and announced 
that he meant to execute the laws. 

Some of his Cabinet were in favor of giving up Fort Sumter, 
but he finally decided to send supplies and men to hold it. The 
Confederate authorities therefore ordered an attack on Fort 
Sumter, which was taken after a few hours' bombardment. 
Amidst great excitement the President called for volunteers to 
protect the government, and four more southern states seceded. 
The four other border states remained in the Union, and later 
furnished men and aid for the war. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 403, 436-437. — Chadwick, 
Causes of the Civil War, 132, 244. — Dodd, Expansion and Conflict, 
264, 291. — Epoch Maps, nos. xii, xiii. — Fish, Am. Nationality, 356. 

Secondary. Brown, Lower South, 83-152. — Chadwick, Causes 
of the Civil War, chs. vii-xix. — Curry, Govt, of the Confed. States, 
chs. i-iv, ix. — Dodd, Expansion and Conflict, 260-281 ; Jefferson 
Davis, chs. xi-xiv. — • File, Presidential Campaign of i860. — Hapgood, 
Abraham, Lincoln, 151-208. — Hart, S. P. Chase, 178-211. — Johnson, 
S. A. Douglas, chs. xviii, xix. — Lee, General Lee, 52-98. — Lothrop, 
W. H. Seward, 203-262. — Morse, Abraham. Lincoln, I. chs. vi-viii. 
— Nicolay, Outbreak of the Rebellion, 1-81. — Nicolay and Hay, 
Abraham Lincoln, II. chs. xii-xxix. III, IV. chs. i-xiii. — ^. Paxson, Civil 
War, chs. ii, iii. — Phillips, Robert Toombs, chs. viii, ix. — Rhodes, 
U.S., II. 416-502, III. 115-415. —Schouler, U.S., V. 454-512, VI. 
1-50. — Shaler, Kentucky, ch. xv. — Trent, R. E. Lee, 31-48. 

Sources. Am. Hist. Leaflets, nos. 12, 18. — Ames, State Docs, on 
Fed. Rels., 310-320. — Beard, Readings, §§ 143-148. — Caldwell, 
Survey, 108-117. — Century Co., Battles and Leaders, I. 7-98. — Hart, 
Contemporaries, IV. §§ 49-74, 76, 77, 96, 97; Patriots and Statesmen, 
V, 261-305. — Johnson, Readings, §§ 143-148. — Johnston, Am. 
Orations, III. 230-329, IV. 16-81. — Lincoln, IFor^5, passim. — Mac- 
Donald, Select Docs., nos. 93-96 ; Select Statutes, no. i. — See New Engl. 
Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, §87; Syllabus, 353. 



References and Topics 419 

Illustrative. Barton, Pine Knot (Ky. and Tenn.). — Churchill, 
The Crisis (Lincoln). — Conway, Pine and Palm. — Fox, Little Shep- 
herd of Kingdom Come. — Morris, Aladdin O'Brien. — Whittier, 
Antislavery Poems. 

Picttires. Century Co., Battles and Leaders, I. — Frank Leslie's 
Weekly. — Harper's Weekly. — Wilson, Am-. People, IV. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Publicservicesof o/fc of the following : Breckinridge; Bell; Floj'd ; 
Black J Stanton; Stephens. [§§ 265, 266] — - (2) Republican conven- 
tion of i860. [§ 265] — ■ (3) Incidents of the secession of one of the first 
seven seceding states. [§ 266] — (4) First Confederate Congress. [§ 266] 
— (s) Admission of one of the following states : Minnesota ; Oregon ; 
Kansas. [§ 267] — (6) Opinions of one of the following statesmen on 
comprornise : Lincoln; Davis; Seward; Greeley. [§ 269] — (y) Star of 
the West incident. [§ 270] — (8) Public services of one of the following 
statesmen: Crittenden; Cameron; Bates; Welles; Smith; Blair. 
[§ 270] — (9) Capture of Fort Sumter. [§ 271] — (10) Account of the 
secession of one of the last four seceding states. [§ 272] — (11) War 
sentiment in the South in 1861. [§ 272] — (12) Secession sentiment in 
one of the four loyal border states. [§ 272] 

Topics for Further Search 

(13) Why did the Democratic convention split? [§ 265] — (14) Why 
did not President Buchanan stop secession? [§ 266] — (15) Northern 
arguments in favor of, or against, secession. [§ 267] — (16) Southern 
arguments in favor of secession. [§ 267] — (17) Union men in the South. 
[§ 268] — ■ (18) Did Fort Sumter belong to the United States in April, 
1861 ? [§ 271] — (19) Effect of the fall of Fort Sumter on northern senti- 
ment. [§ 272] 



CHAPTER XXV 



NORTH AND SOUTH IN 1861 

274. Population of the Two Sections (1861) 

The result of the Civil War depended on the relative strength 
of the contestants, measured in men, resources, business or- 
ganization, and moral force. In population, the North, which 
included the West and Northwest, far surpassed its rival. 

In 1 790 the North and 
the South had each 
2,000,000 people ; in 
1830 the numbers were 
7,000,000 and 6,000,000 
respectively ; but in 
1S60 the free states 
and territories counted 
19,000,000, and the 
slaveholding states 
and territories 12,000,- 
000. There were 
3,500,000 foreign-born 
persons in the North, 
as against 300,000 in 
the seceding states ; 
for immigrants disliked 
going into the South 
where there were few cities and few manufactures, and where 
manual labor was despised. 

When the crisis came, four of the slaveholding states stayed 
with the nineteen free states ; these were Maryland, Delaware, 
Kentucky, and Missouri, with a total population of 3,100,000. 

420 




A Log House in the Backwoods. 



Farming and Democracy 421 

Probably 500,000 of the inhabitants of these states adhered to 
the South ; but West Virginia (not yet a state) and eastern Ten- 
nessee stood by the Union and nearly made good that loss. 
The total population of the region controlled by secession was 
therefore about 8,900,000 as against 22,100,000 for the area sup- 
porting the Union. Out of the 8,900,000, 3,500,000 were slaves 
and 140,000 free negroes, leaving a white population of about 
5,300,000, of whom about 1,300,000 were white men between 
eighteen and sixty years old, presumably capable of military 
service. The twenty-three states that adhered to the Union 
contained about 5,500,000 men from eighteen to sixty years 
old, of whom about 500,000 were foreign-born. 

275. Farming and Democracy 

For the support of an army, the North had many advantages. 
Much more land was under cultivation than in the South ; 
and farm machinery, fertilizers, and improved methods made 
farming more productive. Hence, as far west as southern 
Wisconsin, much of the country was as thickly settled and 
prosperous as the rural parts of New England. It was a period 
of rising prices — in part because of the influx of gold from 
California. .If the condition of the wage earners at any time 
was not satisfactory in the East, it was possible for them to 
take up land in the West and make a living there. The Bureau 
of Agriculture, established at Washington in 1862, showed 
how much the government appreciated the farmer. 

In the South, plantations of hundreds or thousands of acres 
were numerous, but the South did not raise all its own food, 
and was buying corn and other food products in large quantities 
from the Northwest. The staple crop was cotton, of which the 
South exported a value of $191,000,000 in i860. Most of the 
profits of southern farming appear to have gone to the slave- 
holding planters. 

The rise of city and factory populations in the eastern states 
developed a democracy very like that of the West. The' manu- 



422 



North and South in 1861 



facturers and heads of corporations, many of whom had risen 
from the ranks of labor, were now leaders in American industry. 
The South supposed that this was a timid class, which would 
never permit a war for fear of losing its profits, and that work- 
men and clerks were "mudsills," who could be trodden on, but 
would not and could not fight. Yet from such men came a 
great part of the victorious northern armies. In the West there 
was a genuine and wide-awake democracy, which knew no such 

thing as family prestige 
and was not controlled by 
the commercial class. 

In the South, slaves were 
almost the only form of 
great wealth, and the 
300,000 slaveholding fam- 
ilies were as much a gov- 
erning class as in colonial 
times. Out of those fam- 
ilies came also nearly all 
the doctors, lawyers, and 
ministers in the South.' 
The most numerous type of 
the southern white was that 
of the " crackers," or " poor 
whites," illiterate and un- 
progressive, but born fight- 
ing men. Most of them believed that the interest of slavery was 
their interest also, and therefore supported the.planter at the polls 
and in the trenches. Nevertheless, the mountain whites along 
the west slope of the Appalachians had no slaves, hated the slave- 
holders, and constantly opposed them in the state governments. 




A Mountain White, spinning. (From 
a Kentucky photograph.) 



276. State and City Government 

During the period from 1840 to i860 the state constitu- 
tions, both North and South, grew more and more democratic. 



State and City Government 423 

People showed a striking change of feehng by the loss of con- 
fidence in the legislatures, which they tried to tie down by 
amendments to the state constitutions. Much new legislation 
was required to meet the new problems of business and social 
life. In the South the states legislated less for social welfare 
than in the North ; partly from long habit, partly because there 
was no class of free mechanics to demand such legislation. 

Party management grew more and more elaborate, especially 
in the populous North ; and in a few states certain political 
managers, whom we should call bosses, got control — such men 
as Thurlow Weed of New York and Simon Cameron of Penn- 
sylvania. Still the candidates for state ofEces were usually 
nominated in conventions where the result was not arranged 
beforehand, and there was plenty of discussion in state legis- 
latures. In purity of politics the South was better off than any 
other part of the country, for the use of money at elections 
was there uncommon. The one question which could not be 
discussed there, and on which nobody was allowed to disagree 
with his neighbor, was slavery. 

The census of i860 showed 158 cities of 8000 or more people, 
which together contained about a sixth of the total population. 
Of these, 137 were in the states that adhered to the Union, 
and 21 within the later southern Confederacy. New Orleans, 
with a population of 168,000, lived largely on down-river trade 
from the Northwest; the largest southern city that was 
supported wholly by southern commerce was Charleston, with 
41,000 people. 

In the North, many of the old towns expanded into crude, 
irregular, and ugly cities, and nobody seemed to foresee how 
fast they would increase. The cities were poorly policed, and 
riots were frequent. Washington, the capital city, was an 
unpaved bog in time of rain, in which ran half-wild hogs. Most 
of the firemen were volunteers, who pumped with their little 
hand engines while the fire burned ; but some of the large cities 
were using steam fire engines. In the large cities politics were 



4H 



Korth and South in 1861 



very unsavory; New York and San Francisco were notorious 
for their corrupt and disorderly governments, and for fraud and 
violence at elections. 

Nevertheless, great public improvements were on foot. 
Most of the large cities now had public water supplies : Phila- 
delphia began a system of city waterworks in 1801, New York 
built its Croton aqueduct in 1835-1842, and Boston turned on 
Cochituate water in 1845. Parks were established. In 1857 
New York laid out Central Park, the first great municipal pleas- 




Broadway, New York, about 1850. 

ure ground in the country. Horse cars began to be widely 
used about 1845. I^ ^^57 the city of New York organized the 
first "metropolitan police" of uniformed and disciplined men. 
The western cities were now growing fast : Cincinnati, St. 
Louis, and Chicago were still rude and dirty, but had popu- 
lations of 161,000, 161,000, and 109,000 respectively. Next to 
them in importance were Louisville (68,000), Pittsburgh (49,000), 
Detroit, Milwaukee, and Cleveland (each about 45,000). 



Public and Private Education 425 

277. Public and Private Education 

For public education, the cities developed a system of free 
graded schools, in which pupils of about the same age and 
experience could be gathered into one room ; and (about 1850) 
they began to appoint trained superintendents to direct their 
schools. The country district schools were still taught by 
farmers' sons and daughters, who often had no other training 
than that of the district school itself. Still, even the remote 
prairie farmer had a schoolhouse near at hand to start his boys 
and girls in education. Some of the northern cities had public 
high schools, for boys and girls; in a few places there were 
separate girls' high schools (§ 207). "Female seminaries " and 
other large boarding schools for girls were numerous but not 
very effective. 

The colleges were still small ; none of them counted over 
530 undergraduate students in i860. College athletics made 
a beginning at this time, with the boat races between Harvard 
and Yale. The sport spread to other eastern colleges. The 
animal spirits of most students still found vent in all sorts of 
tricks and horseplay. True universities were now appearing: 
some of the older colleges added departments such as a theo- 
logical school here, a law school there, a school of mines in an- 
other place ; and the new western state universities from the 
beginning included schools for the training of doctors, lawyers, 
and scientific men. In 1862 Congress made a large gift of land 
to found an agricultural college in each state, and that gave 
a chance for a new kind of training. The University of Iowa 
took the bold step of admitting women to the various parts 
of the university (1856), an example later followed by all the 
western state universities. 

Southern education was on a different footing. In i860 
about four times as many children were at school in the North 
as in the South ; but the slaves and free negroes had no form 
of education, and the country poor whites had little or none. 



426 



North and South in 1861 



In the towns the pubhc schools had smah funds and few trained 
teachers. Secondary schools were few : the most successful 
were military academies, the best known of which were the 
famous "Citadel" in Charleston and the Virginia Military In- 
stitute at Lexington, Virginia. Little colleges abounded in 
which the instruction was much like that of the larger colleges, 
and the University of Virginia was a strong institution. 

Some of the well-to-do families sent their sons to southern 
state or denominational colleges, or abroad, or to northern 
colleges, and the ruling class was highly educated and intellectual. 

278. Literature and the Churches 

The year i860 falls about in the middle of the golden age of 
American literature, in which flourished Whittier, the author 

of pathetic poems about 
slavery and suffering ; 
Longfellow, the sunny- 
minded and graceful ; 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, 
the wit of his time; and 
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
whose Essays, full of deep 
thought put in masterful 
English, had been pub- 
lished almost twenty years 
earlier. Nathaniel Haw- 
thorne, perhaps the great- 
est of all American writers, 
died in 1864. 

The North A merican Re- 
view was the oldest review 
of literature and politics; 
De Bow's Review was an excellent southern periodical in 
questions of business, trade, and politics. Among magazines 
in a lighter vein were Harper's Monthly, started in 1850, and 




Nathaniel Hawtuorxe. 



Literature and the Churches 427 

soon after made an illustrated magazine; and the Atlantic 
Monthly, founded in November, 1S57, under the editor- 
ship of James Russell Lowell. Lowell was renowned as 
a poet, essayist, and critic ; but he will always be best 
remembered for his Biglow Papers, the keenest of satires 
on slavery. 

A new school of American historians was at the height of 
its activity in i860; to George Bancroft and William H. Pres- 
cott were added John 
Lothrop Motley with his 
Rise of the Dutch Republic 
(1856). Francis Parkman, 
greatest of all American 
historians, about 1850 be- 
gan his life work of describ- 
ing "the romance of the 
woods " ; that is, the rela- 
tions of the Indians, the 
French, and the English in 
the New World. 

The fierce contest of the 
Civil War developed many 
political humorists. 
Among the more genial 
was Artemus Ward, who 
invented an ingenious mis- 
spelling which did not hide 

the humor of his thought. It was he who was wiUing 
all his wife's male relatives to the war." 

In this active intellectual life the South had at that time 
little part. Aside from some able political writers, it raised no 
body of defenders of slavery equal to opponents like Mrs. 
Stowe, Whittier, and Lowell ; and no essayists, poets, satirists. 
or historians who afifected northern public opinion. Edgar 
Allan Poe, born a southerner, was one of America's greatest 




Edgar Allan Pok in- 1.S49. 

to send 



428 North and South in 1861 

writers ; he died in 1849. William Gilmore Simms wrote novels 
in the style of Walter Scott on southern themes, but they were 
not much read outside of the South. There was no large 
southern school of writers who appealed to the whole people 
of the section. 

With the passing of the years, the great national churches 
grew larger, stronger, and wealthier. The Catholic Church 
was steadily enlarged by the immigration of Irish and German 
Catholics. Though the Presbyterians, Baptists, and Metho- 
dists were split by the slavery question (§ 205) the factions 
flourished. The Congregational, Unitarian, Episcopalian, and 
Catholic churches were never formally divided by slavery. 
Theology was in general milder than in 1830, and there was 
less preaching on future punishment, and more on present 
duty. Benevolent organizations were now very active : Bible 
societies, tract societies, foreign missionary societies, educa- 
tion societies, helped to raise the moral standards of the 
people. 

The South, more than the North, made its churches intel- 
lectual and social centers. It had many good church buildings, 
large congregations, and eloquent ministers, perhaps the most 
renowned of whom was Bishop William Meade of Virginia. 
In both city and country the negroes had separate churches, 
usually with a minister of their own race ; and there is a tra- 
dition that one such church bought and owned its minister, 

279. Industries 

People were learning what immense resources the country 
possessed in other products than those of the farm. Lum- 
ber was still very cheap, and a great business was developed 
in supplying the white pine of Michigan and Wisconsin to the 
treeless prairie states. Oil always floated on the surface of 
Oil Creek, a tributary of the Allegheny River, and in 1859 it 
was discovered that, by putting down drill holes along this 
creek, a porous rock containing this valuable substance could 



Industries 429 

be tapped ; and new methods of refining this petroleum turned 
the product into a fluid that gave a beautiful light. 

Mining grew to be a great industry, and many states pro- 
vided geological surveys of their territory so as to get at the 
minerals. Many discoveries of valuable minerals were made 
after 1850. Rich copper deposits were found south of Lake 
Superior, and more gold in California. In 1858 gold was found 
near Pikes Peak, and the city of Denver quickly sprang up. 
In 1859 silver was discovered in great abundance at Virginia 
City, Nevada; and in 1S61, gold in Montana. 

The South was equally rich in stores of timber, in coal, iron, 
oil, and the natural wealth of the soil; but the profits of in- 
dustry went into buying slaves and raising cotton, and there 
was no labor adapted to manufacturing. Hence, in the whole 
seceding South the only coal mines worked on a large scale were 
those on the upper James in Virginia. 

Like progress was made in commercial organization (§ 248). 
Corporations of every kind rapidly increased, though all were 
small as measured by the standards of to-day. In 1848 the 
first clearing house was organized in New York to simplify the 
banking business. Labor also began to organize into trades 
unions, which demanded a shorter day; in 1840 the United 
States made ten hours the legal day for its employees. Manu- 
factures developed rapidly because of cheap fuel, brought 
down from the Pennsylvania mines to the Hudson and the 
Delaware, so that it could be distributed all along the seaboard, 
for use in factories and houses. In the West the bituminous 
coal furnished a great trade down the Ohio from Pittsburgh to 
Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, and many other places. Soon 
after i860 Lake Superior iron ore began to come down the 
Lakes; and before long places convenient to both coal and 
iron, especially Cleveland and Pittsburgh, became great iron- 
manufacturing centers. 

In this development also the South had but a small share. 
The only very large iron works in the South was the Trede- 
hart's new amer. hist. — 27 



430 North and South m 1861 

gar at Richmond ; there was only one other large southern rail 
mill; and the southern water powers were not develojK-d. 
Some cotton and woolen mills were built, and a large amount 
of southern capital was invested in banks, which gave credit 
to the small planter and the farmer. Of the imports from 
abroad one tenth came to the South in i860, and nine tenths 
to the North. 

280. Progress of Invention 

The progress of invention in the previous thirty years has 
already been described (§ 244). This progress was increasingly 
rapid in the forties and fifties. The manufacture of cloth was 
changed, all the way from the farm to the wearer's back, by 
improvements in carding, spinning, weaving, and dyeing. In 
1846 Elias Howe made his first practicable sewing machine, 

clumsy enough, but provided with 
a needle with the eye near the 
point, a device which has revolu- 
tionized sewing. In 1844 Good- 
year discovered a means of 
"vulcanizing" rubber, so as to 
make it up into shoes, garments, 
and hard articles. These and like 
inventions came into use slowly. 
The French inventor Daguerre 
Howe's First ShvviiNu in 1839 announced a method of 

Machine. taking self-recorded sun pictures 

called daguerreotypes. They required an exposure of about 
twenty minutes, and the result was a single picture on a silvered' 
plate. An American, Dr. Draper, at once discovered that the 
process could be applied to portraits; a few years later an 
Englishman named Archer found that a negative could be fixed 
on a glass plate, from which any number of prints could be 
made. Thus photography sprang into being. 

The greatest new discovery in methods of communication 




* » 



Progress of Invention 



431 











\ 


= -^a^ 


^^&= 


- 'a t 


H 


A T 


"m V=- P J- 


'0 


~d" 


:=£ 





The First Telegraphic Message. 



of intelligence was the electric telegraph, first discovered in 
1835, and worked out and applied by Samuel F. B. Morse and 
Alfred Vail in 1844. It carried the news of the nomination of 
lames K. Polk (§ 228) from Baltimore to Washington. Tele- 
graph lines rapidly spread through the country, and in 1851 
the first electric fire alarm telegraph was set up. Machinery 
began to be applied to many new purposes. The first steam fire 

engine was constructed 

ftag.liiiiMiiii,}iiiiii» ''^o'^t 1853. In 1847 

Richard Hoe invented 
a rotary printing press, 
run at great speed and 
delivering a continu- 
ous stream of news- 
papers. 

The South had little 
use for these in- 
ventions, for factor- 
ies and workshops 
were few, and most 
manufactures were im- 
ported. Not a for- 
tieth part of the 
southern cotton was 
manufactured in the 
South. Mowers and 




I'iRST Portrait made by Photography. 
Daguerreotype by Dr. Draper, 1839.) 



reapers were of no use 



432 North and South in i86t 

where there was so little hay or grain. The only widely dis- 
tributed labor-saving machine was the cotton gin (§ 125). 

281. Transportation 

Railroads as yet profited little from the inventions of the 
period. Nearly all the American railroads were single- tracked 
as many are to-day; the trains were slow, the stations small 
and dirty, the locomotives weak. From New York to Chicago 
the fastest schedule time in i860 was thirty-eight hours — 
about twice the time now required for the fastest trains. The 
cars were small and comfortless, but sleeping cars had been 
introduced for the long routes. Railroad accidents were fre- 
quent and destructive. Freight rates were so high that long 
distance trafiic was small ; and as there were several different 
gauges in use, it was hard to make through shipments. 

The South fell behind the North in transportation; the 
railroads were lighter in construction, ran less regularly, and 
charged higher fares. The tributaries of the Mississippi were 
provided with light-draft steamers, but the South built very 
few vessels, and the seagoing coasters were mostly northern 
property. 

The railroad and steamboat quickened the carrying of the 
mails ; and several reforms were made in the postal service. 
Official adhesive stamps were introduced (1847) > the postage 
was reduced to five cents (1845), and then to three cents (1851). 
Unfortunately neither the post office nor the railroad imder- 
took the plain duty of carrying parcels. In 1839 a young man 
named Harnden conceived the idea of carrying packages back 
and forth between Boston and New York, and he thus began 
the express business in the United States. The Adams Express 
Company was formed in 1854. In the fifties Wells, Fargo, and 
Company organized an express system on the Pacific coast ; and 
Butterfield and Company introduced a "pony express" for 
letters and valuables, which covered the nineteen hundred miles 
from St. Joseph on the Missouri to Sacramento in ten days. 



Review 433 

282. Review 

At the outbreak of the Civil War, the population that ad- 
hered to the Union was about 22,000,000 and that which sup- 
ported the Confederacy about 9,000,000. The North had a 
greater diversity of industry and trades. The northern work- 
men and business men turned out to be excellent soldiers. In 
the South the chief wealth came from the cultivation of cotton, 
and went to a small number of slaveholding families ; but they, 
and also the so-called "poor whites, " proved to be good fighters. 

The North abounded in cities, some of which were badly 
governed, but they were supplied with uniformed police and 
with water, gas, and other conveniences. The South was largely 
a rural country. All the northern states had free public schools, 
including many high schools, and they provided for the educa- 
tion of girls. There were also numerous colleges. The South 
cultivated an intellectual life, but had fewer schools and colleges. 
Most of the literature of the period was written by northerners, 
especially Longfellow, Holmes, Emerson, and Lowell ; but 
there were some southern writers, of whom Poe was the greatest. 

In industry the North led, because most of the factories and 
mines were in northern stS,tes, the South not yet having de- 
veloped its natural resources. Invention went on steadily in 
the North, but the South built few factories, and its staple crops 
could not be aided by farm machinery. Both sections built 
railroads; but the North showed the larger mileage. Most 
of the commercial and business organization of the country 
was centered in the North, except in the cotton cities of New 
Orleans, Savannah, and Charleston. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 436-437. — Bogart, Econ. 
Hist., 297, 349. — Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, 8, 20, 160. — 
Coman, Indust. Hist., 211, 281. — ■ Dodd, Expansion and Conflict, 188, 
190, 191, 193, 196, 197. — Fish, Am. Nationality, 266. 

Secondary. Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, ch. ii. — Coman, 



434 North and South in 1861 

Indtisl. Hist., 232-279. — Dodd, Expansion, chs. x, xi. — Hosmer, 
Appeal to Arms, ch. i. — McMaster, U.S., VII. 99-134, VIII. 68-132. — 
Raymond, Peter Cooper, 52-95. — Rhodes, U.S., III. 1-114. — Smith, 
Parties and Slavery, chs. v, xix, xx. — See also references to chs. xix, xxii. 

Sources. Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 282-285, 291-293, 
295-308, 404, 542-558. —James, Readings, §§ 74, 77, 83. — Olmsted, 
Seaboard Slave States. — Smedes, Southern Planter. 

Illustrative. Baker, The New Timothy. — Beecher, Norwood 
(N.E.). — Cable, Dr. Sevier (New Orleans). — Gary, Clover-nook (Middle 
West). — Clemens, Life on the Mississippi; Huckleberry Finn. — 
E. Eggleston, Mystery of Metro polisville (Minn.). — G. C. Eggleston, 
Irene of the Mountains. — Gilmore, Among the Pines. — Howells, 
A Boy's Town. — Moore, Rachel Stanwood (South). — Morris, Hist. 
Tales, 225-269 (telegraph). — Page, In Ole Virginia. — Pryor, Colonel's 
Story. — Roberts, Down the 0-hi-o. — Sargent, Peculiar (slavery. Mo.). 
— Smith, Fortunes of Oliver Horn (Md. and N.Y.). — White, Blazed 
Trail; River man (northern frontier). — See also references to ch. xix. 

Pictures. Leslie's Weekly. — Harper's Weekly. — Mentor, serial no. 29. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Life in one northern city during the Civil War. [§ 276] — (2) Life 
in one southern city during the Civil War. [§ 276] — (3) Public high 
schools in New England, or in the West, in 1861. [§ 277] — (4) A day in 
a district school about 1861. [§ 277] — (5) Literary career of one of the 
following writers : Holmes ; Emerson ; Hawthorne ; Motley ; Park- 
man; Simms; Artemus Ward. [§ 278] — (6) Goal trade down the 
Ohio River. [§ 279] — (7) Career of one of the following inventors: 
McCormick ; Elias Howe ; Goodyear ; Draper ; Morse ; Vail ; Hoe. 
[§ 280] — (8) Railroad travel in the North, or in the South, about 1861. 
[§ 281] — (9) Steam travel on the Great Lakes, or on the Mississippi, 
about 1861. [§ 281] — (10) Beginnings of the express business. [§ 281] 

Topics for Further Search 

(11) Why did so few immigrants go into the South? [§ 274] — (12) Con- 
ditions of the mountain whites about 1861. [§ 275] — (13) Agricultural 
college land grants. [§ 277] — (14) Account of the character and in- 
fluence of one of the leading newspapers, or weeklies, or monthly maga- 
zines, or reviews of the Civil War period. [§ 278] — (15) Influence on 
the community of one of the following clergymen: Beecher; Hughes; 
Finney; Meade; Storrs. [§ 278] — (16) Account of mining of copper, 
or gold, or silver, or coal, or iron ore. [§ 279] 



CHAPTER XXVI 

THE MILITARY SIDE OF THE CIVIL WAR (1861-1865) 

283. What Kind of War Was It? 

The Civil War practically began April 12, 1861, when the 
Confederates fired on Fort Sumter. The official Confederate 
point of view was that the North was trying to conquer the 
South. The northern point of view was that the southerners 
were in rebellion against their lawful government and could 
not excuse themselves by any theory of "sovereign states," 
or a "Confederacy"; that the states were still in the Union, 
and hence every individual was liable to execution for treason, 
if he made armed resistance against the authority of the federal 
government. 

In practice it was impossible to treat Confederates in uniform, 
acting under orders of their superiors, as anything but soldiers ; 
if captured, they were prisoners of war. By a proclamation of 
April 19, 1861, for the blockade of the southern ports. President 
Lincoln virtually admitted that there was a government on the 
other side, carrying on civilized war. 

What was the place of slavery in the contest ? The national 
House of Representatives and the Senate separately voted 
(July 22, 25, 1861) : "That this war is not waged upon our part 
in any spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or 
subjection, or purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the 
rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend 
and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve 
the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the 

435 




436' 




e\ e UeJ"/" /(I 



•'\\ew Bern\i 



•pt.Hatteias 



..^./'~ 



/( fCan 



tlmmgton 



V 



■s^vl Colunibiaj 



5a?«,^ C AWbA^jN A 



■^■fiarlejto^ 






Ft.Sumter 
Battery Wagner 




ct.Fishei" 
ft.Caswell 



THE THEATER 

OF THE 

CITIL WAR 

SCALE OF MILES 

Ho i5d 130 



6 1 

'"■"•^■^ Union Routes 

— ■* Coiifedeiute Routes 

■>*■>■'■' ^ ^ Railroads 



Union Free States 
Union Slaveholding States 
Seceded after April 15, 1861 
Seceded before April 15, 1861 

L_j 

78 76 



437 



438 The Military Side of the Civil War 

several States unimpaired." The war was called "the War 
between the States" by the South, and "the RebelUon" by 
the North. In fact, it was neither; it was a genuine Civil 
War carried on between two parts of the same nation, two 
sections of the same people. 

284. The Field of War 

The only way to break up the Confederacy and to bring the 
states back into the Union, was to invade the South, a region 
naturally very strong. Now an invading army is Hke a ser- 
pent which can strike only with its head, and as it moves for- 
ward leaves the length of its body exposed. Such an army must 
follow some kind of highway over which supplies and reinforce- 
ments may be sent up to the front ; hence the rough and im- 
passable Appalachian Mountains covered the middle of the 
Confederate hnes and seemed a sure protection. Most of the 
fighting was in the extreme east and in the west. At the begin- 
ning of the war, the Confederate military frontier ran south of 
Fort Monroe on the James, then followed a Httle to the south of 
the Potomac River, and through the mountains of West Virginia 
and Kentucky ; it ran to the two Confederate forts of Donelson 
and Henry, on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers ; it touched 
the Ohio at Paducah, crossed the Mississippi at Belmont, and 
then passed about midway through Missouri. 

That strong line of defense was weakened by four routes 
into the interior of the Confederacy, and along them were 
fought most of the campaigns of the Civil War: (i) the lower 
Mississippi River, which was deep enough to admit ships from 
the sea; (2) the middle Mississippi, a great national waterway, 
abounding in steamers; (3) the line of railroad from Louis- 
ville to Nashville, and thence across the mountains to Chat- 
tanooga and Atlanta ; (4) a strip of territory lying east of the 
mountains in Virginia, which was traversed by several railroads 
leading south from Washington. 



The Two Navies 439 

2S5. The Two Armies 

To fight its battles, the South had a population accustomed 
to outdoor life, to the use of firearms, and to the management 
of horses ; and it had also commanders trained in the national 
military school of West Point and in the wars of the Union. 
Since the negroes did the hard work at home, nearly all 
the able-bodied white men could be enlisted. According to 
Colonel T. S. Livermore, the authority on this question, over 
1,230,000 different men were enlisted in the Confederate army 
and they rendered 3,240,000 years of military service. 

Though the North was not considered to be a military people, 
the first call for militia brought out 92,000 "citizen soldiers"; 
and during 1861, 660,000 men were enlisted for three years. 
At first volunteers continued to pour in, but in 1863 this im- 
pulse lost strength and a draft was ordered, which, however, 
produced only 36,000 men. In the course of the whole war 
about 2,500,000 adult men were in the military service of the 
Union, of whom about 400,000 reenlisted at least once. The 
total year's services were about 4,670,000, which made the 
actual fighting force one half greater than the Confederate 
force. To raise, organize, and supply such enormous forces 
required a great man as Secretary of War. In January, 1862, 
Lincoln practically removed Simon Cameron from that de- 
partment, and appointed instead Edwin M. Stanton, chosen 
for his loyalty to the Union, his rugged honesty, and his great 
ability, although he had the worst of tempers and would oc- 
casionally defy the President. 

286. The Two Navies 

The regular navy was at first disorganized, because more 
than a third of the officers resigned to join the Confederacy, 
and all the nav}^ yards in the southern states were seized by the 
Confederacy, with the vessels that happened to be in port. 
Of the Union navy, only seven steamers and five wooden cruisers 



440 The Military Side of the Civil War 

were available when the war began. The President's procla- 
mation of a "blockade" (§ 283) was a notice to foreign ships 
that squadrons would be placed outside all the southern ports, 
to capture vessels going in or running out. Thus, began the 
celebrated "anaconda policy" of pressing on the Confederacy 
from all sides at once. To form the necessary blockading squad- 
rons, merchant vessels, both sail and steam, were hastily bought 
and equipped, naval volunteers were enrolled, and in a few 
months squadrons were actually blockading the coast and 
making frequent captures. 

To evade the fleet, small and very swift steam "blockade 
runners" were built abroad, to run from the near-by Bahama 
and Bermuda islands to Confederate ports, carrying in mili- 
tary stores and miscellaneous cargoes, and carrying out cot- 
ton, compressed into small bulk. Many of these vessels were 
captured, but their profits were so great that two successful 
trips would pay for a vessel. As the war advanced, the block- 
ade grew more and more effective; in all about 1500 captures 
were made by the Union fleet, and the trade of the South with 
the rest of the world was nearly throttled. 

The Confederate authorities made every possible effort to 
build a navy. They did construct several fleets for harbor de- 
fense, but their only seagoing ships were the "commerce de- 
stroyers." The South at once began to issue commissions to 
private ships to capture Union merchantmen, and also sent out 
cruisers, or public armed ships. At first the United States tried 
to make out that the crews of such vessels were pirates, and 
several of these men were convicted and sentenced to death ; 
but President Davis threatened to execute an equal number of 
Union soldiers held as prisoners, and the United States finally 
decided to treat them as prisoners of war. 

Several vessels were also fitted out as Confederate ships of 
war in British ports; of these the principal one was the Ala- 
bama, which was built at Liverpool for the Confederacy. Al- 
though Minister Adams steadily protested, she slipped away to 



Campaigns of 1861 441 

sea (July, 1862), her crew and guns coming out to her on an- 
other ship. The Alabama and other Confederate ships, fol- 
lowing the precedents of the Revolution and War of 181 2 
(§§ 93 > lyi)? found a rich prey in the Union merchant ships, of 
which the total number captured was 260, valued at $20,000,000. 
Gradually the United States navy hunted out and blockaded, 
took, or sank all these vessels except the Shenandoah, which was 
still at work when the war ended. Claims were at once filed 
against Great Britain for these losses. 

287. Campaigns of 1861 

As in previous wars, the military events were important, 
not for themselves, but because they decided the issue of the 
war — whether the northern or the southern way of thinking 
should prevail. And campaigns and battles are less important 
than the character and action of the leading soldiers. Never- 
theless, it is necessary to know something about the main military 
events, because they prepared the way for acts of Congress and 
proclamations and the great social and economic changes brought 
about by the Civil War. 

The first significant battle was fought at Bull Run. A few 
weeks after the fall of Fort Sumter, Washington was strongly 
fortified because it was in danger of surprise by a Confederate 
force under General Beauregard which was lying at Manassas 
Junction, only thirty miles away. The country loudly called 
for somebody to break up that army. Against the judgment 
of the military men, a force of 30,000 Union troops, under 
General McDowell, attacked the fine at Bull Run (July 21, 186 1), 
not knowing that Joseph E. Johnston was bringing more men 
from the Shenandoah valley, the first time in history that sol- 
diers were carried into battle by railroad. 

In the midst of the battle, a Confederate officer cried to his 
men, "There are Jackson and his Virginians standing like a 
stone wall!" and as "Stonewall" Jackson that general has gone 
down in history. Nevertheless the Confederate army was 




442 The Military Side of the Civil War 

weakening when fresh troops arrived and broke the Union lines. 
Says an eyewitness, "For three miles hosts of Federal troops, all 
detached from their regiments, all mingled in one disorderly 

rout, were fleeing along 
the road." 

The North profited by 
Bull Run more than the 
South, for it was forced 
to realize the task before 
it. President Lincoln held 
his courage, and within 
three days was making 
preparation for new cam- 
paigns in both East and 
West. General George B. 
McClellan was at once put 
in command of the army 
in front of Washington, 
and in November became 
commander of all the armies of the United States. He devoted 
himself to organizing an "Army of the Potomac." Day after 
day, week after week, the only news from that part of the front 
was the stereotyped telegram, "All quiet on the Potomac." 

288. Western Camj>aigns or 1862 

In the West, the two contestants lined up across central Ken- 
tucky and Missouri. Early in 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant, who 
had shown his ability in a little expedition down the Mississippi 
to Belmont, moved forward in conjunction with Flag Officer 
Foote. Together they accomplished the first great Union vic- 
tory by capturing Forts Henry and Donelson, with 14,500 men 
(February, 1 86 2 ) . The Confederates thereupon abandoned Ken- 
tucky, and Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, fell to the Union 
forces without a blow. A provisional state government was set 
up for Tennessee, with Andrew Johnson as governor. 



"Stonewall" Jackson, in i' 



Naval Warfare of 1862 443 

Farther west the Confederates retreated down the Missis- 
sippi to a strong position called Island No. 10, which, however, 
was captured in April. The Confederate army west of the 
Mississippi had just been broken up at the battle of Pea Ridge. 
The result of three months' campaigning was, therefore, the 
gain by the Federals of a strip of territory a hundred miles 
wide and more than five hundred miles long. 

(ieneral Halleck was put in general command and sent Grant's 
army up the Tennessee River, and he ordered Buell to unite his 
forces with Grant's. Before Buell could get up. General 
Albert Sidney Johnston with 40,000 Confederates suddenly 
attacked Grant's army of 43,000 (April 6) at Shiloh, near 
Pittsburg Landing. The Union troops, surprised and as yet 
little experienced in fighting in line, were driven back almost 
to the river. General W. T. Sherman, one of the division com- 
manders, fought gallantly. The Confederates were startled 
by the death of Johnston, killed on the field. Next morning 
Buell's army of 20,000 arrived to reenforce Grant, the tables 
were turned, and the Confederates were driven from the field. 

Halleck, taking personal command, moved southward and 
captured Corinth, Mississippi (May 30), which commanded 
the railroads east from Memphis, and thus gave to the Union 
forces control of the Mississippi River as far south as the 
strongly fortified town of Vicksburg. The career of victory was 
interrupted by a Confederate invasion of Kentucky under 
General Bragg, who started for Louisville. The Union army 
under Buell met Bragg at Perryville (October 8) and after a 
hot fight the Confederates withdrew. General Rosecrans, then 
appointed to the Union command, attacked Bragg in the bloody 
battle of Stone River or Murfreesboro (December 31, 1862, 
January 2, 1863), and compelled him to retire. 

289, Naval Warfare of 1862 

Meanwhile, in the spring of 1862, Flag Officer David G. Far- 
ragut was sent out with a fleet to force an entrance into the 



444 



The Military Side of the Civil War 



lower Mississippi. Farragut was born in 1801, of Scotch de-. 
scent, entered the navy when ten years old, and served as a 
midshipman in the War of 181 2. Though he lived in Virginia, 
he stood by the old flag in the Civil War. After entering 
the mouth of the Mississippi, he signaled for close action, 
"conquer or be conquered." He boldly led his fleet up the 
river (April 24), which was defended by strong forts. A fire- 
ship came down against his flagship Hartford, but half the 
sailors kept up the fight, while the other half put out the fire. 

At the end of the fight a boom 
across the river was destroyed, the 
vessels were beyond the forts, and 
there was nothing to stop them. 
They shortly anchored in front of 
the city of New Orleans, and the 
forts soon surrendered. A large 
force of Union troops soon after 
took possession of New Orleans, 
under command of General B. F. 
Butler, who for a year ruled the 
city like a conquered province. 

By March, 1862, the Army of 
the Potomac had grown to 185,000 
men, eager to move "on to Rich- 
mond." After many delays, 
McClellan marched up the peninsula between the James and 
York rivers. The Confederates at Norfolk were rebuilding 
the former United States frigate Merrimac into a powerful 
ironclad called the Virginia; and to meet this danger the 
new iron ship Monitor was sent down from New York. This 
craft was the invention of John Ericsson, a little "cheese-box 
on a raft," with a revolving iron turret carrying two heavy 
guns, mounted on a deck almost flush with the water. She 
was built in one hundred days, and none too soon. 

The Merrimac unexpectedly came out (March 8, 1862), 







»/ 



John Ericsson. (Inventor of 
the Monitor?) 



Campaigns in Virginia in 1862 445 

steamed slowly but steadily to the Union fleet in Hampton 
Roads, and destroyed the wooden sloop of war Cumberland and 
the frigate Congress. Next morning the Merrimac appeared 
again, but found, in front of the rest of her prey, the little 
Monitor, which had arrived during the night. For five hours 
the two ships pounded each other ; neither could destroy her 
adversary, but the Merrimac finally retired. One of the great- 
est dangers of the whole war was safely passed, for not another 
vessel in the world could have coped with the Confederate ship. 
She never made another attack, and later was scuttled and 
burned by her own crew, to prevent her capture by Union forces. 

290. Campaigns in Virginia in 1862 

When McClellan was at last ready to attack (April, 1862), 
to his deep disappointment the President detached McDowell 
with 40,000 troops to cover Washington. McClellan's army 
wasted about a month in the scientific siege of Yorktown, which 
was defended in part with "Quaker guns," made of painted logs 
of wood. By May 31, he reached a point only seven miles from 
Richmond. The official returns later showed that McClellan 
had about 115,000 present for duty against about 90,000 in 
the Confederate army, which was commanded by Joseph E. 
Johnston. McClellan was checked at the battle of Seven Pines 
or Fair Oaks, when Johnston was wounded, and next day Robert 
E. Lee took command of the Confederate army. Meanwhile 
Stonewall Jackson, in a brilliant campaign in the Shenandoah 
valley, threatened Washington and kept McDowell's corps from 
reaching McClellan. Jackson thereupon suddenly joined Lee ; 
so that McClellan found himself attacked. Then followed the 
terrible "seven days' fighting," in which McClellan was forced 
to give way and retreat (June 26 to July i) to the James River, 
ending at Malvern Hill. 

In thirty-one days McClellan had lost over 21,000 men and 
the enemy about 27,000 ; but they had saved their capital and 
the Confederacy for the time. In the sting of defeat McClel- 



446 The Military Side of the Civil War 

Ian telegraphed to Secretary Stanton: ''I have lost this battle 
because my force was too smaU. ... If I save this army 
now, I tell you plainly that I owe no thanks to you or to any 
other persons in Washington. You have done your best to 
sacrifice tliis army." McCleUan was a brave man and a natural 
leader, always heartily trusted and loyally obeyed by his subor- 
dinates, and he knew how to handle troops ; but he was misled 

by his secret- 
service agents, 
who reported 
that the Con- 
federate army 
was much larger 
than his own; 
he was never 
willing to at- 
tack unless he 
was sure that he 
would win; and 
he was exceed- 
ingly unjust to 
Stanton and 
Lincoln. 

Lincoln (July 
1862) called 
for 300,000 
more men; and 
420,000 soon responded. McCleUan had lost the confidence of 
the administration, and General Halleck became the confidential 
adviser to the President. During the next six months, the Army 
of the P Dtomac fought three more unsuccessful battles with Lee's 
army: 

(i) General Pope received command of most of the eastern 
army. He was little known to his subordinates, few of whom 
liked or trusted him. Pope was attacked by Stonewall Jack- 








^I M I e 



The War in Virginia. 



Vicksburg and Gettysburg 447 

son's "foot cavalry" and fought three days near the old battle- 
field of Bull Run (August 28-30). He was so badly defeated 
that the army was withdrawn to the neighborhood of Washing- 
ton. 

(2) Lee saw the first chance to carry the war into the North, 
and crossed the Potomac. McClellan was again put in active 
command and attacked Lee on the Antietam near Sharpsburg, 
Maryland (September 17). This was the best opportunity 
of the war for destroying Lee's army; but after a day of 
terrible fighting, and another day's delay, Lee's army was 
allowed to withdraw across the Potomac unmolested. 

(3) McClellan was soon removed, and General Burnside was 
appointed to succeed him. Burnside marched to the Rappa- 
hannock River, beyond which Lee with 80,000 men intrenched 
himself. The Union army of 113,000 men attacked Lee's 
intrenchments in front near Fredericksburg (December 13, 1862) 
and was defeated in one of the bloodiest battles of the war, 
with a heavy loss and without the slightest military advantage. 

291. Vicksburg and Gettysburg (1863) 

The year 1863 began with g 18,000 men under arms on the 
Union side and 466,000 on the southern. The campaign opened 
in the West, where General Grant tried various schemes of 
opening a communication through shallow bayous around 
Vicksburg. Finally he marched seventy miles down the back 
country on the west side of the river, crossed the Mississippi 
south of Vicksburg, and then pushed northeast, defeated his 
enemy right and left, and closed in on Vicksburg from the east. 
Thus by boxing the compass south, east, north, and west, Grant 
cut Vicksburg off from all help. 

After vain attempts to take the place by assault, Grant 
regularly invested the city and bombarded it. As the seven 
weeks of siege progressed, the inhabitants came down to pea meal 
mixed with cornmeal, of which they made a sort of bread. The 
streets were full of debris, wounded men, and houseless people. 



448 The Military Side of the Civil War 

The inhabitants moved to caves in the bluffs, dug out bomb- 
proofs, and lived there day and night. July 4, 1863, Vicks- 
burg surrendered unconditionally with 29,000 men, the largest 
number of prisoners taken by either side during the entire war. 
A week later a freight steamer from St. Louis arrived in New 
Orleans, and President Lincoln said, "The Father of Waters 
again goes un vexed to the sea." 

The Army of the Potomac fought as bravely as the western 
armies, but with smaller success. General Joseph Hooker 

was put in command (January 
25) and assembled his army at 
Chancellor sville, where it was 
confronted by Lee's much 
smaller force and suddenly 
thrown backin confusion (May 
2) . Jackson was accidentally 
shot by his own men — a ter- 
rible blow to the South — but 
Hooker was badly beaten. 

Lee now had his greatest op- 
portunity during the whole 
war. He crossed the Potomac, 
Battle of Gettysbtog. ^^d reached southeastern 

Pennsylvania. At this critical moment the command of the 
Union army was transferred from Hooker to General Meade. 
The two armies came together near Gettysburg and for three 
days (July 1-3) fought the greatest battle of the Civil War. 
The Union army took its stand on a crescent-shaped hill, 
ending with the strong position of Round Top. 

At one o'clock on the third day, the Confederates opened 
fire against the ridge ; at the end of two hours, a division of 
15,000 men, under command of Pickett, burst into the open and 
came surging up the slope into the Union lines on Cemetery 
Ridge. This was the so-called "High Tide of the Confed- 
eracy," the most critical moment of the war, A few of the 




Union forces 
Confederate forces 



Chickamauga and Chattanooga 449 

assailants got over the breastworks ; and could they have held 
their ground, the Union army must have broken in disorder, and 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Washington might have been the 
prize of Lee's army. But the Union lines held steady, the 
remnants of Pickett's division fell back, and Lee was defeated. 
Of the 88,000 Union troops engaged, more than one man in 
four went down, killed or wounded. The Confederate army 
of 75,000 men lost 23,000, or almost a third of its number. 
On the night of the next day Lee slowly retreated, and the 
Union army let him cross the Potomac ; it was the last chance 
to invade the North in large force. 

292, CmCKAMAUGA AND CHATTANOOGA (1863) 

Two more terrible battles were fought in the West before the 
year 1863 ended. To Rosecrans, with the Army of the Cum- 
berland, was assigned the task of advancing to Chattanooga 
while Burnside moved up from Kentucky to Knoxville, to give 
support to the large population of Union men in East Tennessee. 
Bragg attacked Rosecrans on the Chickamauga (September 19, 
1863) with a heavy force. The next day the attack was re- 
newed, and the Union line was broken, but the army of 
Thomas stood its ground. Two days later the whole army 
returned to Chattanooga, 

No soldier on either side was more passionately admired than 
General George H. Thomas. After graduation at West Point 
in 1840, he served in the Mexican War. He was sent to Ken- 
tucky, beat Zollicoffer in 1861, and served as an excellent sub- 
ordinate to Buell and Rosecrans. Thomas was a quiet, reserved 
man, shy and proud ; but he had a wonderful gift of inspiring 
his men with confidence and devotion, and he was commonly 
called "Pap Thomas" by his troops. 

Thomas's great national reputation was gained at Chicka- 
mauga. General Garfield said, "I shall never forget my amaze- 
ment and admiration when I beheld that grand ofiEicer holding 
his own v/ith utter defeat on each side, and such wild disorder 
hart's new amer. Hisr — 28 



450 The Military Side of the Civil War 

in his rear." From that unflinching courage Thomas ^ot the 
name which he carried the rest of his life, "the Rock of Chicka- 
mauga." 

Rosecrans was now penned up in Chattanooga by the Con- 
federates under Bragg, who occupied the neighboring heights 
of Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. River communi- 
cation by the Tennessee was closed by the enemy, and soon the 




Field Gun going into Action. (From a war-time lithograph by Forbes.) 

army was almost starving. Grant was now placed in command 
of the combined forces of Sherfnan and Thomas, who super- 
seded Rosecrans, and at once began to extricate the army. 

In three successive days (November 23-25) the Confederate 
army was driven out of its strong positions above Chattanooga. 
First, Thomas took the works at the foot of Missionary Ridge. 
Next day Sherman attacked the north end of Missionary Ridge, 
and took position on the enemy's flank ; and in the dramatic 
"Battle above the Clouds," Hooker drove Bragg's troops off 
Lookout Mountain. On the third day Thomas's army at- 



Grant's Campaign of 1864 451 

tacked the Confederates at the foot of Missionary Ridge. 
Without orders the troops went on up the hiU, and in an hour 
cleared that mountain of enemies. There is no more stirring 
incident in the annals of war than the lines of bluecoats, in sighf 
of thousands of their fellows, dashing up the slope, capturing 
batteries, guns, and men, and raising the stars and stripes on 
the summit. Bragg retreated in great confusion. 

293. Grant's Campaign of 1864 

For the eastern campaign of 1864, Lincoln selected Grant, 
who had made the most brilliant record in the West. He was 
made lieutenant-general with the authority of general in chief 
of all the armies in the country. Grant selected the Army of 
the Potomac, which remained under direct command of Meade, 
as his own fighting force ; and he took the field (May 4) with 
102,000 effective men against Lee's army of 61,000. The next 
day he was attacked by Lee in the wooded region of northern 
Virginia known as the Wilderness, and withdrew only after 
three days of blind, confused, and bloody fighting. 

Up to this time the Army of the Potomac had always re- 
treated after such a check; and as the army marched south- 
ward, the whole length of the column rang with cheers, for the 
men realized that they were to fight it through this time. 

Grant now moved southward parallel wdth Lee's army, both 
sides intrenching every night. In seventeen days after be- 
ginning his campaign, he lost over 30,000 men. At Cold Har- 
bor, fifteen miles from Richmond, he found the enemy strongly 
intrenched in what was really a great fort. He attacked (June 3) 
and within an hour had lost 7000. His purpose was to wear 
Lee out, and he could have afforded to give two men for one, to 
break up that opposing army then and there. 

Once more Grant edged southward, and attempted to seize 
Petersburg, the key of eastern Virginia. A vain effort to en- 
tice him from his grip was made by the Confederate general 
Early, who, in a sudden dash northward, reached the edge of 



452 The Military Side of the Civil War 

the city of Washington, which he could have taken, had he 
known how few its defenders were. He then raided and burned 
Chambersburg. After the failure of an attempt by a mine to 
break through the Confederate defenses of Petersburg at a spot 
thereafter called the Crater (July 30), the Union troops settled 
down to a slow siege of Petersburg which lasted nearly a year. 

294. General Grant and General Lee 

From this time the eyes of the whole North were on Grant. 
Ulysses S. Grant was a man of the plain people, a descendant 

of an early colonist of Mas- 
sachusetts, probably of 
Scotch ancestry. The son 
of a tanner, he was born in 
Ohio (April 27, 1822), was 
brought up first to farm 
work, then graduated in 
1843 at West Point. Two 
years later he was sent to 
Taylor's army and distin- 
guished himself in the 
Mexican campaign. He 
resigned from the army in 
1854, and then tried various 
kinds of business in St. 
Louis and Galena, Illinois, and fell into obscurity. When the 
war broke out. Grant returned to the army. From 1861 to 
1863 his name was connected with most of the successful oper- 
ations in the West, till Lincoln said of him: "I can't spare this 
man; he fights." 

Grant was a very taciturn man, slow to express an opinion ; 
he disUked writing, and sometimes got into trouble because he 
would not report. Yet he coined some apt phrases, as in his 
demand for the surrender of Fort Donelson : "No terms ex- 
cept an unconditional and immediate surrender can be ac- 




Ui.vssi:s S. Crant. 



General Grant and General Lee 



453 



cepted. I propose lo move immedialely upon your works"; 
and in 1864, "I propose to light it out on this hne if it takes all 
summer." 

Grant's greatest characteristic was his indomitable grit. 
After the terrible discouragements of the campaign of 1864, 
he wrote, "I want Sheridan put in command of all the troops 
in the tield [of the Shenandoah], with instructions lo ])ut him- 
self south of the enemy and follow him to the death. Wherever 
the enemy goes let our troops go also." This intense deter- 
mination ke[)t in action the forces that brought the war to an 
end. Grant did not stake all on one battle ; he was not daunted 
or discouraged by defeat ; he simply kept at it till his enemy 
was van(|uished. 

Grant's most dangerous oi)ponent was Robert E. Lee, who was 
born in 1807, of an old and aristocratic Virginia family; he 
graduated from West Point 
(1829), and sjK'nt thirty-two 
years in the regular army; 
he distinguished himself in 
the Mexican War. Just 
before the Civil War broke 
out he wrote to a friend, 
"If the Union is dissoK-ed 
and the government dis- 
rupted, I shall return to 
my native state and share 
the miseries of my people, 
and, save in defense, will 
draw m}^ sword on none." 
A few days after the fall of 
Fort Sumter he was olTered 
the command of the United 
States army, and declined it. He resigned, and, after Virginia 
seceded, accepted a Confederate commission. 

For a year Lee saw little active service; then he took com- 




ROBERT K. Li'.E. 



454 The Military Side of the Civil War 

mand of the Confederate army in the East and for. nearly three 
years was the unquestioned leader of that army. His brilliant 
division and corps commanders, Stonewall Jackson, Gordon, 
Longstreet, A. P. Hill, D. H. Hill, Ewell, Early, and J. E. B. 
Stuart, remained with him with few exceptions till the end of 
the struggle. The things that made Lee a great soldier were 
his skillful preparations, his watchfulness, and his ability to 
accomplish much with small resources. In this respect he greatly 
resembled Washington, with whom he has often been compared. 
He had great power over men, and his soldiers had perfect 
confidence in "Uncle Robert." 



295. Georgia and Alabama Campaigns (1864) 

On the same day that Grant moved south in 1864, Sherman be- 
gan an advance from Chattanooga to Atlanta, 135 miles through 

the mountains ; his op- 



ponent was Joseph E. 
Johnston, till he was 
_ superseded in July by 
the more dashing Hood. 
During four months 
Sherman worked his 
way southward, skill- 
fully flanking John- 
ston's smaller army 
from point to point. 
He was at last able to 
telegraph (September 
3), "Atlanta is ours, 
and fairly won." 
General Johnston was of Scotch descent, born in 1807; 
he was a classmate of Lee at West Point, and then served 
against the Indians and the Mexicans. In i860 he was made 
quartermaster general of the United States army, but followed 
his state of Virginia when it seceded. He was one of the first 




Sherman Monument, New York. 



Marching through Georgia 455 

generals appointed by the Confederacy, commanded in the 
Shenandoah valley, at Bull Run, in the Peninsular Campaign, 
and against Grant outside of Vicksburg. Johnston's most 
remarkable service was in 1864, when with about 70,000 men 
he tried to hold Sherman's army of 113,000. His pohcy was to 
avoid general engagements, but to wear the invaders out by a 
long campaign, and by attacking their ever lengthening line of 
communications. 

The Union navy shared in the hard work of 1864, especially by 
Farragut's attack in August, on the powerful defenses of Mobile 
Bay. Farragut fastened himself to the rigging of his flagship, 
the Hartford. As his fleet went in, his monitor Tecumseh was 
torpedoed, and instantly sank, but the admiral signaled "Go 
ahead!" The Union vessels succeeded in passing the forts at 
the entrance of the bay. They then dashed at the big iron- 
clad ram Tennessee, firing their heavy guns, and they pounded 
her till she surrendered. The forts were taken, one after the 
other, so that the port of Mobile was closed to the blockade 
runners. 

Farragut's determination never ceased throughout the war; 
he was one of the most careful commanders that ever lived; 
he made all his preparations beforehand, weighed the risks, 
and then nothing could stop him short of the sinking of his 
vessel; and his courage affected everybody in the fleet. So 
perfect were his discipHne and his coolness, that in his great 
fights he always came out safe with a small loss of men. 

Fort Fisher was taken by the navy and the army (January, 
1865) and the port of Wilmington, North Carolina, was closed. 
Thereafter there was no large port open to the blockade run- 
ners except Charleston. 

296. Marching through Georgia (1864) 

Sherman's strong imagination suggested to him that the 
next step was to cut the Confederacy in two by marching 
eastward from Atlanta to Savannah through the heart of the 



456 The Military Side of the Civil War 

country. He started in November with 62,000 men. There 
was no army in front of him and no mihtia that could op- 
pose him. His troops lived on the country, and as Sherman 
passed through he left it devastated, so far as he could. The 
main army was followed by "Sherman's Bummers," several 
thousand stragglers who paid very little attention to the orders 
against looting private houses; and thousands of negro "con- 
trabands" joined in the procession on foot or in wagons. The 
railroads were destroyed for miles ; even the rails were heated 
and twisted up. Sherman reached and took Savannah (De- 
cember 21), and Lincoln wrote to him, "The honor is all yours." 
General William T. Sherman (born in 1820), as a man and a 
soldier, was a striking iigure. He was a member of a distin- 
guished family, and all his life long was acquainted with public 
affairs. Sherman graduated at West Point (1840), and was sent 
out to California in 1846. In 1855 he resigned, and when the 
war broke out, was superintendent of a military school in 
Louisiana. Sherman served at Bull Run, then in the West, 
and won his first renown at Shiloh. Then he commanded 
large forces in the Vicksburg and Chattanooga campaigns. 
In 1864, Sherman was put in command of most of the western 
armies, and acted in perfect accord and harmony with his chief- 
tain. Grant. As a military man Sherman's chief characteristic 
was his skiU in forecasting what the enemy was likely to do. 
He was a great strategist, and in his many fights and cam- 
paigns always tried to get a good position before he attacked. 
His men admired him and called him " Old Billy " ; but he 
was too brusque and fiery for the warm personal love which 
they poured out on McClellan and Thomas. 

297. Valley and Tennessee Campaigns (1864) 

Both east and west, subsidiary campaigns went on parallel 
with the marches and sieges of Grant and Sherman. General 
Philip H. Sheridan came to the front in 1864. Born in New 
York of Irish parents, he was a graduate of West Point, and 




457 



458 The Military Side of the Civil War 

served on the western frontier. He was put in command of 
a brigade, and soon after of a division in Buell's army (1862). 
He fought at Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, and Chat- 
tanooga, and in 1864 was made chief of the cavalry corps of 
the Army of the Potomac. Later he was sent into the valley 
of the Shenandoah, against Early, where he devastated the 
country so that it should no longer feed the Confederate 
army. The enemy drove Sheridan's army out of its camp at 
Cedar Creek (October 19) while General Sheridan was about 
twenty miles to the north. He hurried to the sound of the 
guns and found a number of demoralized men on the road, but 
a large part of the troops were still in line. As he galloped 
along the line he shouted, "We are all right. . . . Never 
mind, boys, we'll whip them yet, we'll whip them yet. We 
shall sleep in our quarters to-night." He pushed the enemy 
back, and actually reoccupied his old camp at Cedar Creek that 
night. 

When Sherman started in his "march to the sea" (§ 296) 
Thomas was left in command of the forces strung all the way 
along from Nashville to Atlanta. Hood struck northward and 
intrenched himself south of Nashville, where Thomas made 
ready for a great battle. He would not move till his army was 
fully prepared. In vain did orders follow day after day from 
Grant, bidding him attack. When he at last was ready (De- 
cember 15) he drove Hood from his lines, and the Confederate 
army was routed and dispersed in two days' fighting. This 
battle practically ended the war in the West, and vindicated 
Thomas's prudence and generalship. 

From Savannah, Sherman marched northward to Columbia, 
and the town was burned as his forces entered it (February 17, 
1865). Neither Sherman nor any other officer gave orders to 
•burn it, but he was not made unhappy by the catastrophe. 
Charleston could no longer be defended and was occupied by 
other Union forces (February 18, 1865). The battle of Benton- 
ville (March 19) was the last serious fight. 



>98. 



End of the War 

End of the War (1865) 



459 



The Army of the Potomac, during these brilUant movements, 
was losing thousands of men before Petersburg, but slowly 
wore down Lee, who could not replace his losses. He even 
proposed to President Davis to levy negro regiments ; but the 
time was too short to carry out the plan. Lee forced a series 
of fights to cover his preparations for a retreat ; he then aban- 




Sl KRi \Di k ui Lee 

doned Petersburg and Richmond and struck westward along 
the Appomattox River. Next day, April 3, 1865, Richmond 
was occupied by the Union troops. 

Grant followed close after Lee, and Sheridan closed in the 
net. A week after leaving his intrenchments, Lee was sur- 
rounded at Appomattox, and (April 9) he surrendered his com- 
mand, which had now dwindled to 27,000 men. Lee's parting 
speech to his troops was simply, "Men, we have fought through 
the war together; I have done my best for you." A few days 
later, Johnston surrendered his army to Sherman, at Raleigh; 



( 




46o " The Military Side of the Civil War 

and the Civil War was practically at an end. Two weeks later 
Jefferson Davis was captured while trying to escape,, 

Many suggestions had been made during the war, looking 
toward terms of peace. Foreign governments tried in vain to 
mediate. In 1864 some overtures were made to President 
Davis^ who replied, "You may 'emancipate' every negro in 

the Confederacy, but we will be 
free, we will govern ourselves." 
Just before the collapse Lincoln 
met Vice President Stephens of 
the Confederacy at Hampton 
Roads; but Lincoln was firm 
that the only conditions of 
peace were for the South to re- 
turn to the Union and for 
slavery to cease ; and on those 
issues the conference failed. 

After Richmond fell, Lincoln 
took pains to notify General 
Grant that he was not to make 
any pledges for the future of 
the South. Nevertheless, Grant 
released Lee's men, "not to 
be disturbed by the United 
States authority so long as they 
observed their paroles and the laws in force where they reside." 
He also won the respect and gratitude of the southern officers 
and soldiers by allowing them to take their horses home for 
their farm work. Sherman, in receiving Johnston's surrender, 
undertook to make pledges about the reorganization of the 
states ; but this action was disavowed by the government at 

Washington. 

299. Review 

The Civil War began with the attack on Fort Sumter, April 
12, 1 86 1. The far South was protected by the ranges of the 







Monument to General Robert 
E. Lee, at Richmond. 



Review 461 

Appalachian Mountains, but there was much fighting east and 
west of the mountains, especially in Virginia, along the railroad 
line from Louisville to Atlanta, and along the Mississippi River. 

About twice as many individuals enlisted in the North as in 
the South ; but they served on the average a shorter time, so 
that the proportion of men in the field was usually about three 
Union men to two Confederates. The North retained most of 
the navy and two thirds of the regular miUtary and naval 
officers, and blockaded the southern coast. The South fitted 
up a few ships in its own ports and others in England, and 
made many captures of American merchant ships. 

The principal battles of the war were as follows': 

1861. (i) Bull Run (July 21), Confederate victory. 

1862. (2) Forts Henry and Donelson (Feb.), Union victory 
by Grant. (3) Monitor-Merrimac (March 8), Union victory. 
(4) Shiloh (April 6), drawn battle. (5) New Orleans (April 
24), Union victory by Farragut. (6) Peninsular Campaign 
(May 3 1- July i), Confederate victory, McClellan defeated by 
Johnston and Lee. (7) Second Bull Run (Aug. 28-30), Con- 
federate victory, Pope defeated by Lee and Stonewall Jackson. 

(8) Antietam (Sept. 17), drawn battle, McClellan against Lee. 

(9) Perryville (Oct. 8), Union victory, Bragg defeated by Buell. 

(10) Fredericksburg (Dec. 13), Confederate victory, Burnside 
defeated by Lee. (11) Stone River (Dec. 31, Jan. 2), Union 
victory, Bragg defeated by Rosecrans. 

1863. (12) Chancellorsville (May 2), Confederate victory, 
Hooker defeated by Lee. (13) Gettysburg (July 1-3), Union 
victory, Lee defeated by Meade. (14) Vicksburg (July 4), 
Union victory, surrender to Grant. (15) Chickamauga (Sept. 
19), Confederate victory, Rosecrans defeated by Bragg. 
(16) Chattanooga (Nov. 23-25), Union victory, Bragg de- 
feated by Grant. 

1864. (17) Wilderness (May 5-7), Confederate victory, 
Grant defeated by Lee. (18) Mobile Bay (Aug. 5), Union vic- 
tory, forts passed by Farragut. (19) Atlanta (Sept. 3), Union 



462 The Military Side of the Civil War . 

victory, captured by Sherman. (20) Cedar Creek (Oct. 19), 
Union victory, Early defeated by Sheridan. (21) Nashville 
(Dec. 15, 16), Union victory. Hood defeated by Thomas. 
(22) Savannah (Dec. 21), taken by Sherman. 

1865. (23) Appomattox (April 9), Union victory, Lee sur- 
rendered to Grant. 

The outcome of the war depended in large degree upon the 
abilities of the commanders ; but in the end it was won by 
wearing the South down to the point where it could no longer 
raise men and keep up the necessary supplies. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 436-437, 446, 448. — Brigham, 
Geogr. Influences, ch.. vii. — Century Co., Battles and Leaders. — Dodd, 
Expansion and Conflict, 313, 327. — Fish, Am. Nationality, 388. — ■ 
Hosmer, Appeal to Arms;- Outcome of the Civil War. — Semple, Geogr, 
Conditions, ch. xiv. — Shepherd, Hist. Atlas, 208. — Special war maps 
in Atlas of Oflicial Records of the Rebellion. — ■ See also maps in Dodge, 
Rhodes, Ropes and Livermore, Wood and Edmonds, cited below. 

Secondary. Bassett, U. S., 518-520, 526-571. — Dodge, Bird's Eye 
View. — Fiske, Mississippi Valley in the Civil War. — Hosmer, Appeal 
to Arms, chs. iii-xiii, xv-xix; Outcome of the Civil War, chs. ii, iii, v-vii, 
x-xii, xiv, xvii. — Hovey, Stonewall Jackson. — Lee, General Lee, 99- 
399, 420-424. — Maclay, U.S. Navy, II. 159-559. — Mahan, Admiral 
Farragut, chs. vii-x, xii. — Morse, Lincoln, I. 298-367, II. 31-94, 134- 
169, 276-285, 328-341. — Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, IV-X 
passim. — Paxson, Civil War, 54-72, 91-102, 113-172, 208-213, 222-244. 

— Rhodes, U .S., III-V passim. — Ropes and Livermore, Civil War. 

— Schouler, U.S., VI passim. — Scribner, Campaigns of the Civil War; 
Navy in the Civil War. — Wilson, General Grant, 74-343. — Wood and 
Edmonds, Atn. Civil War. 

Sources. Am. Annual Cyclop., 1861 to 1865. — Century Co., Battles 
and Leaders. — Eggleston, Rebel's Recollections. — Goss, Recollections 
of a Private. — -Grant, Personal Memoirs, I. 229-584, II. — Hart, 
Contemporaries, IV. §§ 84-95, io3~i23, 132-140; Source Book, §§ 116- 
125. — Hosmer, Color Guard; Thinking Bayonet. — Lincoln, Works, 
passim. — Longstreet, Manassas to Appomattox. — MacDonald, Select 
Statutes, nos. i, 2, 5, 8, 26, 31, 40. — ^ Wormeley, Other Side of War. — 
See New Engl. Hist. Teachers' Assoc, Hist. Sources, § 88; Syllabus, 
354-356. 



References and Topics 463 

Illustrative. Benson, Who Goes There ? ; Friend with the Countersign. 

— Brady, The Patriots (Lee). — Cable, The Cavalier. —'Eggltston, 
Am. War Ballads, I. 167-226, II. — Johnston, Long Roll; Cease Firing. 

— King, Rock of Chickamauga. — Matthews, Poems of Am. Patriotism, 
127-277. — ^ Moore, Lyrics of Loyalty; Rebel Rhymes. — Page, Among 
the Camps; Two Little Confederates; Burial of the Guns. — Trowbridge, 
Drummer Boy. — Webster, Traitor and Loyalist (blockade). 

Pictures. Century Co., Battles and Leaders. — Frank Leslie's 
Weekly. — Forbes, Artist's Story of the Great War. — Harper's Pictorial 
History of the Rebellion. — Johnson, Campfire and Battlefield. — Miller, 
Photog. Hist, of the Civil War. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Noted ships of the Union navy. [§ 286] — (2) Life on blockade 
runners, or blockading ships. [§ 2S6] — (3) Adventures of one of the fol- 
lowing Confederate cruisers : Nashville; Florida; Alabama; Shenan- 
doah. [§ 286] — (4) Fight between the Merrimac and Monitor. [§ 289] 

— (5) Grant's Vicksburg campaign. [§ 291] — (6) Accounts of one of 
the following battles: Chancellorsville; Gettysburg; Chickamauga; 
Lookout Mountain ; Chattanooga ; The Wilderness ; Cold Harbor ; 
Petersburg; Mobile Bay; Fort Fisher; Savannah; Nashville. [§§ 291-297] 

— (7) Sherman's March to the Sea. [§ 296] — (8) Surrender of Lee at 
Appomattox. [§ 298] 

Topics for Further Search 

(9) Map of the military line dividing North and South at various 
dates during the Civil War. [§ 284] — (10) Incidents and results of one 
of the following battles: Balls Bluff; Bull Run; Belmont; Henry 
and Donelson; Island No. 10; Shiloh; Corinth; Perryville; Stone 
River; New Orleans; Seven Pines; Malvern Hill; Second Bull Run; 
Antietam; Fredericksburg. [§§ 287-290] — (11) Military services of one 
of the following commanders : U.S.Grant; Halleck ; Buell; McDowell; 
A.S.Johnston; Sherman; Bragg; Rosecrans; Farragut; R.E.Lee; 
J. E. Johnston; Stonewall Jackson; Pope; Burnside. [§§ 288-290] — 
(12) Building the federal navy. [§ 2S9] — (13) Military services of one 
of the following generals: Thomas; Gar£eld; Hooker; Sheridan; 
Porter; Hancock; Franklin; Longstreet; A. P. Hill; D. H. Hill; 
Ewell; Early; Stuart; Hood. [§§ 292-294] — (14) Lincoln's conference 
at Hampton Roads. [§ 298] 



CHAPTER XXVri 
CIVIL SIDE OF THE WAR (1861-1865) 

300. Union Government 

During the long and fearful war, both sides kept up their 
governments, made every effort to influence foreign powers, 
raised money, and carried on their business and domestic life. 
The United States Congress and the other parts of the federal 
government sat regularly in Washington, which was uncom- 
fortably near the scene of hostihties. Though the war was 
fought to vindicate the Constitution, the country was sub- 
jected to many arbitrary methods of government, some of 
them plainly unconstitutional : 

(i) In the territory actually occupied by the army, including 
the city of Washington, martial law — that is, the will of the 
commander in chief — was declared ; civilians could be arrested 
simply by the order of a military commander, were imprisoned 
without charge of crime or right of trial, and in some instances 
were tried by military courts. 

(2) Under an order of the President (April 27, 1861) the writ 
of habeas corpus was suspended. Several thousand people 
first and last were arrested in a haphazard manner, often with- 
out knowing the charge against them; and they could get 
free only through the request of some man of influence, 

(3) Provost marshals were appointed in the northern cities, 
hundreds of miles away from hostilities; and they arrested 
thousands of people under military law. 

(4) In 1864 a military commission condemned to death Dr. 
Milligan of Indiana for taking part in a traitorous secret society. 

464. 



Union Government 465 

(5) In the border states, and even in the North, miUtary 
officers sometimes shut up churches, dissolved societies, or 
stopped the pubhcation of newspapers. It is true that the 
papers abounded in war gossip, war news, and war stories, 
and the correspondents often revealed military secrets. 

These measures, though reluctantly supported by President 
Lincoln, helped to swell the strong party which was opposed 
to the war. The "Peace Democrats" at the beginning favored 
letting the South secede. They accepted the name of " Copper- 
head," bestowed by their opponents, and wore as badges 
the heads cut out of copper cents ; or butternuts cut in 
sections, because the butternut was the ordinary dye for 
the clothing worn by Confederate soldiers. They also formed 
dangerous secret societies, such as the Knights of the Golden 
Circle, with thousands of members in Ohio and Indiana. 

One of the leaders of the Peace Democrats was Clement L. 
Vallandigham, member of Congress from Ohio, who boasted that 
he never voted a dollar or a man for the war. In May, 1863, 
he was convicted by a military court-martial and sentenced to 
imprisonment for a cutting speech against martial law; but 
Lincoln sent him across the lines into the Confederacy — a 
practical joke which to many people seemed bad policy. 

An act of Congress for drawing recruits by lot from among 
the able-bodied men led to terrible ''draft riots" in the city 
of New York (July, 1863). The opposition turned into a savage 
mob which hunted down and stoned to death many harmless 
negroes and white people, and burned colored orphan asy- 
lums. The next step was to attack buildings which repre- 
sented any kind of government, especially police stations and 
armories. The police fought desperately, but were too few 
to resist such a rising. Federal troops were hastily summoned, 
and after three days of riot the mob was put down by musket 
and bayonet. About a thousand people lost their lives as vic- 
tims of the mob, or by the shots of the defenders of order, and 
the money damage was many millions. 
hart's new amer. hist. — 20 



466 



Civil Side of the War 



301. Confederate Government 

The Confederate government moved from Montgomery to 
Richmond after Virginia seceded. The "permanent con- 
stitution," which went into effect February 18, 1862, was a 

revision of the old fed- 
eral Constitution, with 
the significant change 
that the word "slave" 
was freely used. In prac- 
tice, many parts of this 
constitution never went 
into effect ; for instance, 
the Supreme Court was 
never formed. The Presi- 
dent overshadowed the 
rest of the government, 
and state rights were 
often disregarded. 

President Jefferson 
Davis, the head and type 
of the Confederacy, was 
born in Kentucky (1808) 
not far from the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. He was 
educated at West Point and served seven years as heutenant 
in the army. From 1845 ^^ 1851 he was in Congress, and as 
a soldier in the Mexican War he served with distinction. 
From 1853 to 1857 he was Pierce's Secretary of War, and 
then as senator from Mississippi came forward as the leader 
of the ultra proslavery men in Congress. After the election 
of Lincoln, Davis used his place and influence, before resigning 
from the Senate of the United States, to bring about the break- 
up of the Union. During the war he was almost a civil dicta- 
tor, acting through his influence on the Confederate Congress ; 
his veto was overridden but once in four years. 




(Copyrighl, 1807, by Anderson.) 

Jefferson Davis. 



Foreign Relations 467 

In his speeches and public papers, Davis simply assumed 
as a matter of course, not subject to argument, that negroes 
were no part of the political community ; he also tacitly as- 
sumed that the ruling class, of which he was a member, were 
entitled to govern their fellow white men. In both respects 
he satisfied the public sentiment of the South, which, on the 
whole, loyally supported him to the end. He was an example 
of the resolute, masterful, slaveholder statesman. 

302. Foreign Relations 

The government of the United States continued to hold to 
the former treaties and diplomatic relations with foreign powers. 
Charles Francis Adams, son of President John Quincy Adams, 
was sent as minister to Great Britain, but on the day before 
he reached London, the British government issued (May 13, 
1 861) a proclamation of neutrality in the contest between 
"The United States of America, and certain states styling 
themselves the 'Confederate States of America.'" Other 
European governments took similar action. This was a 
formal and justified recognition that a belligerent power 
was in existence in the southern states, with a government 
that directed armies in the field, and with warships on the 
sea which were entitled to the same treatment in foreign 
ports as the public ships of the Union. Although President 
Lincoln's proclamation of blockade (§ 283) practically recog- 
nized this "beUigerency," the North long cherished wrath 
against Great Britain for thus treating the Civil War as a war, 
instead of as a domestic rebellion. 

To the Confederacy the action of Great Britain seemed far 
too weak; and in 1861 commissioners were sent to Europe to 
ask for fuU recognition as an independent nation. The com- 
missioners, Mason and Shdell, while on their way through the 
West Indies in the British merchant steamer Trent, were forcibly 
taken off by Captain Wilkes in the United States ship of war 
San Jacinto (November 8). The country and Congress were 



468 Civil Side of the War 

delighted at the capture ; but Lincoln pointed out that the 
search of neutral ships was just what drove the United States 
to war in 1812 (§§ 163, 167). Lord Palmerston, the British 
prime minister, prepared a dispatch which might have led to 
immediate war ; but Queen Victoria insisted that a more peace- 
ful tone should be taken. On the other side, Lincoln and the 
Cabinet saw that to stand out meant war with Great Britain 
and the consequent success of the Confederacy ; and they pru- 
dently decided that it was doubtful whether Mason and Shdell 
were rightfully taken ; therefore the two men were finally given 
up. These and other Confederate agents in Europe strove hard 
but in vain to persuade foreign powers, especially Great Britain 
and France, to recognize the independence of the South. Na- 
poleon III, Emperor of the French, was favorable to the Con- 
federacy, but dared not act alone. 

By this time it became necessary to prove to foreign nations 
that the North was making war on behalf of freedom, and not 
simply for the sake of ruling the South. Napoleon III was 
trying to conquer Mexico and had no liking for the North. 
The English were hard hit because the blockade cut off the 
raw material for their cotton manufactures, and thousands 
of mill hands were thrown out of work. The ruling aristoc- 
racy of England made no secret of its hope that the South 
would succeed. A brilliant young statesman, William E. 
Gladstone, publicly said, "Jefferson Davis and other leaders 
of the South have made an army; they are making, it 
appears, a navy; and they have made, which is more impor- 
tant than either ... a nation." 

After the defeat of McClellan and Pope in 1862 (§ 290), 
Lord Palmerston was on the point of offering a "mediation," 
which would have meant something very like recognition; 
but there was a strong Union sentiment in England, especially 
among the workmen in the cotton mills, who felt that the 
rights of free labor were involved ; and they were repre- 
sented in Parliament by the orator John Bright, who was 



Finances 469 

a great friend of the United States government. The defeat 
of the ironclad Merrimac, the battle of Antietam, and still 
more the campaigns in the West during 1862 (§ 288), took 
away the pretexts for immediate recognition ; and the success 
of the Union arms in 1863 and 1864 made it impossible with- 
out arousing the enmity of the United States of America. 

303. Finances 

It was as hard for both sides to raise the necessary means as 
to light in the field. The federal Congress met in special ses- 
sion, July 4, 1861, to provide for the war. The "Morrill 
tarifif " had already passed in March, after many southern 
members had withdrawn from Congress; it restored the gen- 
eral scale of rates of the tariff of 1846 (§ 229), but it added 
some high protective duties. At various times throughout 
the war the tariff was raised and raised again. Congress also 
began to lay new taxes of many kinds, such as the old-fashioned 
excise on Hquor (§ 139); duties on incomes (bringing in 
^347>o°o>ooo in all) ; duties on manufacturing ; stamp duties 
in many ingenious forms ; in fact, taxes on almost everything 
that could be reached. The proceeds of the taxes rose from 
$40,000,000 in i860 to $490,000,000 in 1865; but they did 
not keep pace with the expenditures, which were $66,000,000 
in i860, and $1,290,000,000 in 1864. To meet the deficits, 
hea\y loans were secured ; and the government debt grew from 
$90,000,000 in 1 86 1 to nearly $3,000,000,000 in 1866, bearing 
an interest of $133,000,000 a year. 

Another great change was a complete revolution in currency 
and banking. In 1862 Congress authorized the issue of "legal 
tender notes" ; that is, paper money which must be accepted 
if offered by debtors to creditors. These "greenbacks" grad- 
ually grew to over $450,000,000. Congress in 1863 chartered 
a system of national banks with a currency which was secured 
by government bonds. In order to increase the demand for 
the bonds through the new banks, Congress in 1864 laid a tax 



470 Civil Side of the War 

of ten per cent on the notes of the state banks, which drove 
those notes out of circulation, and caused many of the banks 
to accept national bank charters. 

In all these financial measures the North had the great ad- 
vantages of support by a rich community and of easy access to 
Europe, where military supplies were bought in large quanti- 
ties. The southern Confederacy had no such reserves of wealth 
and was shut in by the blockade. The specie in the banks and 
in private hands was quickly spent. It was hard to raise large 
sums by taxation, and great quantities of paper money were 
issued by Confederate states and the Confederate government. 

304. Contrabands and Abolition by Congress (1861-1862) 

Early in the struggle it became evident that the purpose of 
the war could not be hmited by the resolution of July, 1861 
(§ 283). The Union could never be restored just as it was, be- 
cause slavery could not be kept out of the contest. It was 
easy to take advantage of the weakness of a system under 
which the laborers could not be soldiers. Several different 
measures were directed against the slaveholders : 

(i) Since a recognized measure of war against a slaveholding 
country is for the invading commander to declare the slaves 
of his enemy free. Congress (August, 1861) made partial use 
of this "war power" against slavery. It passed a confisca- 
tion act, providing that if slaves were used in promoting any 
insurrection, the owner should "forfeit his claim to such 
labor." 

(2) As soon as the armies began to move, hundreds of negroes 
took matters into their own hands by running away and com- 
ing into the federal camps. General B. F. Butler, in com- 
mand at Fort Monroe, found more than a thousand such refu- 
gees. When he was asked to surrender some fugitives to 
their masters, who came from within the Confederate lines to 
claim them, he replied, "I shall detain the negroes as contra- 
band of war." The phrase struck the popular fancy, and from 



Contrabands and Abolition by Congress 471 

that time to the end of the war "contraband" meant a south- 
ern slave, usually a refugee. 

(3) Two Union generals tried to go further. General Fre- 
mont (August, 1 861) and General Hunter (May, 1862) issued 
proclamations freeing the slaves in their military districts, and 
even beyond ; but President Lincoln disavowed both the proc- 



_^^--j^^^^;,,-_=^=^;^^^^ ^__^ — .^ ^' j; ^ -°— - -jappw^gyy 




— ,M 







Negroes FLEErNG to Fort Monroe. (From a magazine sketch of 1861.) 

lamations, because slavery was too large a question to be set- 
tled by subordinates. 

(4) The abolitionists and antislavery people were joined by 
many thousands of people who had up to that time been apa- 
thetic, but who wanted to weaken the South by destroying the 
value of slave labor ; and the f eehng was reflected in Congress, 
which outran the President, and in 1862 passed three sweeping 
emancipation acts : (a) The 3000 slaves in the District of Co- 



47 2 Civil Side of the War 

lumbia were set free (April i6), and their masters were given 
a compensation of about $300 for each one. (b) In flat contra- 
diction to the Dred Scott decision of 1857, Congress passed a 
statute (June 19) immediately abolishing slavery in every 
territory, without compensation. (c) The strong feeling of 
personal wrath against the leaders on the other side caused Con- 
gress to provide, in a second confiscation act (July 17), for the 
seizure of all the property of people convicted of treason, or 
who "engaged in armed rebellion," including such slaves of 
rebel owners as might in any manner come inside the Union 
lines. Lincoln signed the bill ; and as fast as the Union lines 
extended, thousands of slaves flocked to their camps, and thus 
became free. 

305. President Lincoln 

A few months' experience showed that the man for this 
crisis was Abraham Lincoln, the one indispensable figure in the 
Civil War. Two characteristics made him the greatest man 
of his time : his practical common sense went straight home to 
the essential point in everything that he was considering ; and 
his quick sensitive heart knew by instinct the beliefs and hopes 
of his fellow countrymen. Toward the weak and needy, Lincoln 
had a tender feeUng. He could not bear even to sign the death 
warrant of a deserter, for, he said, "I am trying to evade the 
butchering business." The same sympathy and sweetness of 
character were shown in a thousand ways to the people who 
beset the White House with their little personal errands — 
the poor woman whose only son was sick in the hospital, or 
the boy who wanted a commission, or the stranger who came 
in from mere curiosity. 

Although Lincoln always distrusted his own military judg- 
ment, he learned to understand the conditions of war better 
than most of his commanders. His writings are full of quaint 
telegrams to his generals; for example: "Fight him, too, 
when opportunity offers. If he stays where he is, fret him and 



- Emancipation by Proclamation 473 

fret him." To General Grant he once telegraphed: "I have 
seen your dispatch expressing your unwillingness to break your 
hold where you are. Neither am I willing. Hold on with a 
bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible." On 
another side of his character, Lincoln was the shrewdest politi- 
cian of his time ; he was very keen in judging election returns ; 
he knew how to keep congressmen good-natured with offices. 

During the first three years of the war, Lincoln was criti- 
cized by many members of his own party, who thought him 
weak and indecisive because he held a temperate middle course, 
avoiding extremes. Only by degrees did people begin to under- 
stand that this plain, homely man in the White House had a 
spirit of surpassing wisdom, and an unselfish care for his 
country's welfare. Patient in defeat, calm in victory, Abraham 
Lincoln came to be recognized as a true father of his country. 

306. Emancipation by Proclamation (1862-1864) 

Throughout 1862 President Lincoln was brooding over the 
question of his duty to his country, and his power as com- 
mander in chief to declare free all the slaves in the Confederacy, 
Lincoln was born in a border slave state, understood the south- 
ern people, and was anxious not to take any step that would 
drive Kentucky and Missouri out of the Union. Therefore he 
sent to Congress a message (March, 1862) urging that the fed- 
eral government cooperate with the states in setting the slaves 
free, with a money payment to the masters. 

Lincoln said of himself : " I am naturally antislavery. If 
slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong"; and at another time, 
"You must not expect me to give up this government without 
playing my last card." In August, 1862, Horace Greeley came 
out in the New York Tribune with what he called the "Prayer 
of Twenty Milhons," violently abusing the President for his 
"mistaken deference to rebel slavery." The President re- 
plied in a public letter, "My paramount object . . . is to save 
the Union, it is not either to save or to destroy slavery." 



474 Civil Side of the War 

Slowly Lincoln made up his mind that the best way to save 
the Union was to free the slaves. Calling his Cabinet together 
(September 22, 1862), he read them the draft of a preUminary 
Proclamation of Emancipation, which declared that "On the 
first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty- three, all persons held as slaves within any 
State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall 
then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, 
thenceforward, and forever free." As a mihtary measure the 
proclamation had no immediate effect ; it roused only defiance 
in the South and was at first coldly received in the North. In 
the elections of congressmen a few weeks later, the Republican 
party barely kept a majority in the House of Representatives. 

Nevertheless, on January i, 1863, the President issued his 
second and final proclamation, which applied to all the seceded 
states except Tennessee and those parts of Louisiana and 
Virginia which were then occupied by Union troops. Then 
Lincoln set himself to the task of persuading the border-state 
slaveholders to free their slaves and take a compensation. They 
might have had about a hundred million dollars in bonds, but 
they refused to admit that slavery was wrong, even by giving 
it up. In the border states thousands of slaves ran away. 
By act of Congress (in 1862) the troops were forbidden to return 
them ; and in 1864 Congress repealed the Fugitive Slave Act. 
After that time the slave who stayed with his master in the 
border states did so only because he liked him. 

307. Emancipation and Politics (1862-1864) 

The good effects of the proclamation were at once seen 
abroad, where the friends of the Union in England in 1863 
thwarted a last effort to have Great Britain and France "me- 
diate" in the struggle (§ 302). When two ironclad ships of 
war, the "Laird rams," were ordered for the Confederacy in 
England, our minister, Adams, protested, and used the grim 
phrase, "It would be superfluous in me to point out to your 



Emancipation and Politics 475 

Lordship that this is war." The British government had al- 
ready decided to hold the vessels, and they were never delivered 
to the Confederacy. 

Three of the loyal border states, which were practically under 
miUtary rule, settled the slavery question for themselves: 
(i) The new state of West Virginia in 1863 adopted an anti- 
slavery constitution. (2) A constitutional ordinance in Mis- 
souri provided for gradual emancipation (1863). (3) A new 
Maryland constitution abolished slavery outright (1864). 
Lincoln tried to help the process by finding some place in Cen- 
tral America where the former slaves could be colonized ; but 
the experiment did not work. 

Both the confiscation act of 1862 and the final Emancipation 
Proclamation authorized the enlistment of negro troops. The 
first full negro regiment in service was the First South Caro- 
lina Volunteers, commanded by Colonel T. W. Higginson, a 
New England abolitionist. In the summer of 1863 the govern- 
ment ordered a draft, and states began to fill up their quotas by 
recruiting negroes in the federal camps on the coast. One of 
these regiments, the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, took part in a 
bloody assault on Battery Wagner near Charleston (July, 
1863). Its colonel, Robert G. Shaw, was killed ; and the enemy 
"buried him with his niggers." The 186,000 negro troops 
eventually received the pay and treatment of white troops. 

The state elections of 1863 responded to the victories at 
Vicksburg and Gettysburg by giving good Republican majori- 
ties. Though Lincoln had the confidence of the people, in 
1864 a cHque of disaffected Republican politicians, including 
Secretary Chase, wanted to set him aside. Nevertheless the 
regular Republican convention was practically unanimous for 
Lincoln, on a platform that slavery must be destroyed. An- 
drew Johnson of Tennessee was put on the ticket as the candi- 
date for Vice President, in order to strengthen it in the border 
states. The Democrats nominated for the presidency General 
George B. McClellan, as representative of the war Democrats 



476 Civil Side of the War 

and as a soldier candidate ; but declared in their platform that 
there "had been four years of failure to restore the Union by 
the experiment of war." 

The failure of Grant to break up Lee's army in June, 1864 
(§ 293), had a damaging effect on the campaign, and Lincoln 
was deeply discouraged, for he miscalculated the people's af- 
fection for their President. To the eighteen free states in the 
Union in i860 had been added Kansas (1861), West Virginia 
(1863), and Nevada, the 36th state (1864). Lincoln carried 
all the twenty-one except New Jersey ; and also Maryland and 
Missouri out of the four border states in the Union. He se- 
cured 212 electoral votes to 21 ; and 2,200,000 popular votes 
against 1,800,000 for McClellan. The reelection of Lincoln 
made it certain that the war would be fought to a finish, and 
enabled the government to find men to recruit Grant's army 
before Petersburg (§§ 293, 298). 

308. How THE North and the South Lived 

Life was exciting in Civil War times. People opened the 
morning papers with dread, for after the battles there were 
long lists of killed and wounded, which carried woe to thou- 
sands of families. Then came a flood of wounded and sick 
pouring back from the front; thousands of them died in the 
hospitals, other thousands went maimed about the streets. 

Northern people were always doing things for the soldiers. 
In almost every village and city there was a ladies' aid society, 
in which the women scraped lint for wounds, made bandages 
and comfortable clothing, haversacks, mittens, and articles for 
the sick, and collected provisions, clothing, and blankets for the 
soldiers. Two large charitable societies, the Sanitary Commis- 
sion and the Christian Commission, took these supplies, moved 
them to the front, and distributed them to the needy. 

People had to learn the use of several new kinds of money. 
After the banks suspended specie payments in December, 
1 86 1, a gold coin was a curiosity; and presently the silver 



How the North and the South Lived 477 

also went out of circulation. For months the only small change 
was sticky postage stamps, till Congress provided the little 
"shinplasters," or fractional currency. Early in 1862 ap- 
peared the crisp and beautiful new legal tender "greenbacks " 
(§ 3^3)} a^nd as they came pouring out they began to fall in gold 
value ; and prices correspondingly rose to double, once almost to 
triple, the old rates. Yet business was good in most parts of 
the country, crops were large, manufactures increased, the 
railroads were busy, and many business men were happy. 

Behind the Confederate lines life was just as exciting as in 
the North, though much less comfortable. Throughout the 
South there was the same passionate support of the soldiers as 
in the North, the same fervent prayer to the Almighty to bless 
their cause. By severe conscription acts every able-bodied white 
man between seventeen and fifty years was called into the army, 
so that General Grant said, "They robbed the cradle and the 
grave." The ne- 
groes on the plan- 
tations raised the 
crops and took 
care of the women 
and children, and a 
slave insurrection 
would have dis- 
solved the Confed- 
erate army ; but 
the negroes never 
rose. 

The war brought 
dire poverty on 

the South. The blockade cut down the cotton export from 
$191,000,000 in i860 to $19,000,000 in 1862. Confederate 
paper notes (§ 303) were never legal tender, but they were put 
out by hundreds of millions, and toward the end of the war 
their value fell to a cent on the dollar : cornmeal sold in Rich- 




CONFEDERATE MONEY. 



478 Civil Side of the War 

mond for $80 a bushel in paper ; flour at $1000 a barrel ; a 
newspaper cost a dollar. 

As the war progressed the South could no longer replace 
its men who fell or were made prisoners ; and therefore the 
North refused to exchange, even though a hundred thousand 
northern soldiers remained in southern prisons. The commis- 
sary of the Confederate army was ill managed ; and there were 
few supplies in the country. Libby Prison for officers in Rich- 
mond, and various prisons farther south, were all badly mis- 
managed. The prison stockade at Andersonville was in the 
hands of a small garrison, officered by men of the overseer type, 
who were in constant fear lest the prisoners should break loose. 
Hence, in a country abounding in timber and with plenty of 
good water, the prisoners were confined in a treeless stockade 
on a foul stream, and were fearfully overcrowded, with no ma- 
terials to build proper houses. They had the same kind of food 
that was provided for the jails and the negro quarters, and often 
for the Confederate troops at the front — chiefly cornmeal, 
sometimes ground cob and all. 

309. Beginnings of Reconstruction (1861-1865) 

The war soon showed the difficulty of assuming that the 
seceding states were still in the Union. The forty mountain 
counties of western Virginia settled the problem for themselves 
by refusing to secede with Virginia. They held a convention, 
formed a reorganized government of Virginia, and later framed 
a constitution for the new state of West Virginia, and asked 
to be admitted into the Union. As the Constitution provides 
that no state shall be divided "without the consent of the 
Legislatures of the states concerned," Congress accepted the 
fiction that the legislature at Wheeling could give such a con- 
sent in the name of the whole state of Virginia ; and in June, 
1863, West Virginia became a separate state. 

In 1861 to 1863, under the direct and earnest insistence of 
President Lincoln, so-called state governments were formed in 



Beginnings of Reconstruction 479 

Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee; governors were 
elected by a handful of voters, legislatures were chosen, sena- 
tors and members of the House appeared in Washington, and 
■several were actually admitted to Congress for a short period, 
though at the same time these states were represented in the 
Confederate Congress at Richmond. By a formal procla- 
mation (December 8, 1863) Lincohi offered to all persons who 
had "participated in the existing rebellion," except the leaders, 
pardon and amnesty "with restoration of all rights and property 
except as to slaves"; and he promised to recognize new state 
governments in any of the seceded states, if formed by one 
tenth or more of the voters, provided they would take an oath 
of allegiance to the United States. 

The success of the Union arms raised Lincoln in 1865 to the 
highest point in his whole Ufe. He had the people behind him 
and could have struck out a policy for restoring the Union which 
Congress must have followed. He was himself a southern man 
by birth, understood the southern people, and in his great 
nature there was no room for enmity toward those who had 
fought bravely and were beaten. The difficult problem of 
reconstruction seemed ready for him to solve. 

Terrible, therefore, was the blow that fell upon the whole 
country when, just four years from the surrender of Fort Sum- 
ter, the President was shot in a box at Ford's Theater, during 
a play, by the organizer and head of a band of conspirators. 
The next morning the President's life ebbed away, and he died 
(April 15, 1865) at the height of his service and power. 

The whole country felt that Lincoln had died for his coun- 
try as truly as if he had been in the front line at Gettysburg. 
The work that he did will live imperishably, for he rescued 
the Union and he destroyed slavery. The principles of his 
life he summed up a few days before his death : "With malice 
toward none ; with charity for all ; with firmness in the right, 
as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the 
work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for 



480 



Civil Side of the War 



him who shall have borne the battle, and for his wiaow> ana 
his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a Just 
and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." 

310. Cost of the Civil War 

What was the cost of the Civil War ? In men, 360,000 on the 
Union side were killed or died of disease, and about 258,000 on 
the Confederate side. In money, the United States paid out 
during the Civil War, for other purposes than its ordinary civil 
expenses, $3,660,000,000; the Confederacy probably spent 
$1,500,000,000 measured in gold. As for destruction of prop- 
erty, no free territory was 
invaded, except Indiana, Penn- 
sylvania, and Ohio for a few 
days; and the destruction of 
northern merchant vessels 
amounted to only $20,000,000. 
The border states of the Union, 
as well as the seceding South, 
however, were invaded at many 
different points and devastated 
by marching armies, both Union 
and Confederate. Thousands 
of houses were burned, the busi- 
ness of cities was for months 
suspended, the cotton crop was 
nearly a dead loss. The South 
was commercially ruined, while 
the North, in spite of its im- 
mense expenses, had more men, 
more capital, and more money 
at the end of the war than at 
the beginning. 
The South felt also that it had lost four million slaves 
whom it valued in i860 at $2,000,000,000. The slaveholding 




Memorial of the Civil War at 
Newburyport, Mass. 



Review 481 

families did lose the opportunity of turning their human prop- 
erty into cash; but most of the negroes were still on the 
ground and ready to work the land ; and the community was 
no poorer for the change. 

Was this enormous expenditure of life, treasure, and national 
forces worthwhile? Yes, for it did several vital things: (i) It 
taught forever the lesson that there is no such thing as peace- 
able secession, for we are now sure that any future attempt 
at secession would at once lead to war. (2) It proved once for 
all that slavery is an institution that weakens the economic 
and social forces of a country ; for example, the South was de- 
prived of the use in the field of a third of its able-bodied men. 

(3) It opened to four million negroes the opportunity to prove 
what they could do for themselves if they had a fair chance. 

(4) It proved the courage and self-sacrifice of the people of 
the United States, both North and South — all the people, 
not soldiers merely, but men, women, and children. (5) It put 
an end to the project of dividing the strength and influence of 
the United States between two federations. One Union, one 
government, one nation, one country — that was the result. 

The war was worth what it cost, because it led at last to a 
recognition of the rights of all men, and to an understanding 
that all alike are citizens of one great and enduring country. 
It benefited the South as much as the North, by setting it free 
from the cramping, wasteful, and undesirable system of slavery. 

311. Review 

Both the Union and the Confederate governments during 
the war went far beyond the ordinary law by authorizing the 
arrest of civilians, imprisonment without trial, or trial by a 
mihtary commission. These methods seemed necessary against 
secret societies in sympathy with the Confederacy. Draft 
riots in New York were put down by military force. The 
Confederate government used similar dictatorial methods. 

Both the North and the South tried to influence European 
hart's new amer. hist. — 30 



482 Civil Side of the War 

governments. Several difficulties arose with England, espe- 
cially the British proclamation of neutrality, the Trent affair, 
and the disposition to recognize the Confederacy. Recogni- 
tion was prevented largely by the attitude of the British 
workmen. 

To support the war, heavy taxes were laid by Congress, 
paper money was issued, and a new system of national banks 
was chartered. The South borrowed what it could and issued 
great quantities of government paper notes. 

Congress passed many acts relating to slaves and fugitives, 
including two confiscation acts and emancipation acts for the 
District of Columbia and the territories. Several Union 
generals tried to set slaves free; but President Lincoln took 
over that question and issued two proclamations of emanci- 
pation, and most of the loyal border states passed emancipa- 
tion acts. Large numbers of negro troops were raised. 

In both North and South, the war came close home to civil- 
ians through their interest in the soldiers and prisoners. Union 
governments were formed in several of the seceded states, and 
Lincoln was making plans for adjusting the problems arising 
from the war when he was assassinated. The war cost about 
600,000 fives and $5,000,000,000 ; but it restored the country. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. Hosmer, Appeal to Arms, 204. — Shepherd, 
Hist. Atlas, 206. — ■ See also references to ch. xxvi. 

Secondary. Adams, C. F. Adams, chs. ix-xvii. — Cambridge Mod. 
Hist., VII. chs. xviii, xix. — Coman, Indust. Hist., 279-285. — Curry, 
Govt, of the Confed. States, chs. v-viii. — Dewey, Finan. Hist., §§ 117- 
140. — Dodd, Expansion and Conflict, 281-293, 304, 305, 309-328; 
Jefferson Davis, chs. xv-xxi. — Fish, Am. Dipt., 304-323. — Fite, Social 
and Indust. Conditions. — Hapgood, Abraham Lincoln, 201-419. — 
Hart, S. P. Chase, 211-318. — -Hosmer, Appeal to Arms, chs. ii, xiv, 
XX ; Outcome of the Civil War, chs. i, iv, viii, ix, xiii, xv, xvi. — 
McCall, Thaddeus Stevens, chs. viii-xiii. — Morse, Lincoln, I. 272-298, 
368-387, II. 1-30, 95-133. i7o-27S> 286-327, 341-357. — Nicolay and 
Hay, Abraham Lincoln, IV-X passim. — Paxson, Civil War, 72-222 



References and Topics 485 

passim. — Rhodes, U.S., III-V passim. — Schouler, U.S., VI passim. 

— Schwab, Co)ifed. States. — Wilson, Am. People, IV. 214-312 passim. 
Sources. Am. Annual Cyclopaedia, 1861-1865. — Am. Hist. Leaf- 
lets, nos. 18, 26. — ■ Avary, Va. Girl in the Civil War. — Brooks, Wash- 
ington in Lincoln's Time. — Carpenter, Six Months at the White House. 

— Chesnut, Diary from' Dixie. — Hart, Contemporaries, IV. §§ 75-83, 
96-101, 124-131; Patriots and Statesmen, V. 307-342; Source Book, 
§§ 118, 120, 124, 126. — Hill, Liberty Docs., ch. xxii. — Johnson, Read- 
ings, §§ 153-169. — Johnston, Am. Oratiotis, TV. 51-148. — Lincoln, 
Works passim. 

Illustrative. Alcott, Hospital Sketches. — Browne, Artetnus Ward: 
His Book; Artemus Ward: His Travels. — De Forest, Miss Ravenel's 
Conversion. — Dickinson, What Answer? (draft riots). — Harris, On 
the Plantation. — Harrison, The Carlyles. — Holmes, In War Time. — 
Howe, Memory of Lincoln (poems). — Lowell, Biglow Papers (2d. ser.) ; 
Commemoration Ode. — Trowbridge, Cudjo's Cave. — Thruston, Called 
to the Field. — Whittier, Antislavery Poems, 219-258. 

Pictures. Frank Leslie's Weekly. — Harper's Weekly. — Harper's 
Monthly. — Mentor, serial no. 52. — Wilson, Am. People, IV. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Draft riots in New York. [§ 300] — (2) Incidents of the Con- 
federate government at Richmond. [§ 301] ^ (3) Charles Francis 
Adams as minister to England. [§ 302] — - (4) Capture of the Trent. 
[§ 302] — (5) First national banks. [§ 303] — (6) Confederate use of 
paper money. [§ 303] — (7) Butler, or Fr6mont, or Hujiter, on freeing 
slaves. [§304] — (8) Abraham Lincoln: in the White House; or with 
McClellan ; or in Cabinet meetings ; or in his relations with Seward ; or 
in his relations with Greeley. [§§ 305, 306] — (9) Emancipation Acts of 
one of the following states : West Virginia ; Missouri ; Maryland. 
[§ 307] — (10) Lincoln's colonization plan for the negroes. [§ 307] — 
(11) Election of 1864. [§ 307] — (12) Shinplaster fractional currency. 
[§ 308] — (13) High prices in the South. [§ 308] — (14) Assassination 
of President Lincoln. [§ 309] 

Topics for Further Search 

(15) Secret societies of southern sympathizers in the North. [§ 300] 

— (16) English workingmen as friends of the North. [§ 302] — (17) Why 
were the confiscation acts passed? [§ 304] — -(18) Hospitals and care of 
the wounded; or Sanitary Commission; or Christian Commission. 
[§ 308] — (19) Conscription of soldiers in the South, or in the North. 
[§ 308] — (20) Was the South made poorer by emancipation? [§ 310] 



CHAPTER XXVIII 
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION (1865-1876) 
312. Southern Whites 

The result of the war was to break down the army and 
navy of the South. The government of the Confederacy at 
once collapsed, and the secession state organizations were sup- 
pressed. How could the southern people and their governments 
be restored to their former share in the Union? This per- 
plexing question included three issues: the status of the in- 
dividual whites before the law, the future of the negroes, and the 
relations of the states to the Union. 

The southern whites were nearly all connected with what the 
North commonly called the "Rebellion," and therefore the 
penalties for treason were hanging over them all. From that 
danger, the military men were practically freed by the terms of 
surrender of Lee's and Johnston's armies. When warrants 
were issued for Lee and others in order to try them for treason, 
General Grant would not permit the arrests. 

Out of the many who had been civil officers of the Confed- 
eracy and the seceded states, the only man actually held for 
treason was JefTerson Davis. Lincoln would probably have 
stood firmly against any kind of punishment for the common 
people of the South, whether soldiers or civilians ; but Congress 
had confiscated the property of some of the leaders (§ 304) ; 
and by the Fourteenth Amendment (adopted later) many of 
those who had taken a leading part, either civil or military, 
were excluded from office. 

484 



Southern Negroes 



485 



313. Southern Negroes 

At the end of the war, most of the slaves within the bound- 
aries of the United States had been declared free by one or an- 
other of the following methods : (i) Congress prohibited slavery 
in the District of Columbia and the territories (§ 304). (2) 
The President emancipated the slaves in the eleven seceded 
states, except Tennessee and certain counties of Louisiana and 
Virginia (§ 306). (3) Maryland, West Virginia, and Missouri 
passed immediate or gradual emancipation acts for themselves 
(§ 307)- (4) The loyal governments of Louisiana, Virginia, and 
Arkansas (§ 309) adopted constitutions that freed the slaves; 
and Tennessee in 1865 passed a special emancipation act. That 
left Delaware and Kentucky the only areas in which slavery 
was still legal in April, i<S65. 




Emancipation and Rkconstruction. 

For the thousands of negroes who had left their old homes 
and flocked into the Union camps, Congress passed an act 
for a Freedmen's Bureau (March 3, 1865), which was intended, 
through military ofl&cers, to protect the negroes from injustice. 



486 Reconstruction of the Union 

to find work for them, to keep them from starving, and to start 
schools for their education. This bureau was taking a limited 
responsibility for individuals within the states, which the 
United States government had never before attempted. 

To prevent any question that the former slaves were forever 
free, a Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was carried 
through both houses of Congress (January, 1865) by the per- 
sonal influence of President Lincoln, who said in a public speech, 
"It winds the whole thing up." Three fourths of all the states, 
through their legislatures, ratified this amendment, which 
became a part of the Constitution, December 18, 1865. It pro- 
vided that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except 
as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been 
duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place 
subject to their jurisdiction." This amendment made free- 
dom the only legal condition in all the United States. The 
slaves in Kentucky and Delaware were set free by it against 
the will of their masters. Thenceforth it was out of the power 
of any state to set slavery up again. Whatever else the war 
did, it put an end to legal slavery forever. 

314. Theories of State Reconstruction (1865-1S66) 

The question of the eleven states which had tried to withdraw 
from the Union was the most difficult of all. Did they at once 
come back into their former place? Would they still have 
"all the dignity, equality, and rights of the states unimpaired," 
as set forth by the resolution of 1861 (§ 283) ? If so, their sena- 
tors and representatives would help to settle their own future. 
The northern theory of the war from first to last was that the 
states always remained in the Union and could not get out of it ; 
that secession simply had not occurred ; that the whole trouble 
was made by certain individuals who traitorously resisted the 
United States, on the unfounded claim that their states so 
ordered. Yet, at the end of the war the individuals went 
practically unpunished; while the seceded states, as political 



Theories of State Reconstruction 487 

communities, for years were not allowed to resume their pre- 
vious relations to the Union. Even after furnishing eight of 
the twenty-seven ratifications needed to carry the Thirteenth 
Amendment (§ 313), they were held to be not really in the 
Union, not capable of sending members to Congress nor of tak- 
ing part in an election for President. 

Four main theories were put forth to explain this singular 
state of things and to provide a method of "reconstructing" 
the southern states: (i) The "presidential theory," held by 
Lincoln, was that the states were entitled to come back and 
send members to Congress, as soon as the President decided 
that they had repented. (2) The "state suicide theory," 
urged by Charles Sumner, was that by secession the states lost 
statehood and became territories. (3) The "conquered prov- 
inces theory," for which Thaddeus Stevens was responsible, 
was that Congress could deal with the South exactly as if it 
were a part of a conquered foreign country; it was even sug- 
gested that South Carolina be divided between Georgia and 
North CaroHna and thus be obhterated from the map. (4) The 
"forfeited rights theory" was that the states still existed and 
were members of the Union, but through their traitorous acts, 
acting as a community, had made themselves subject to some 
punishment which would reach them as states. 

The first theory to be apphed was the presidential, which 
after Lincoln's death was carried on by Andrew Johnson, who 
succeeded to the presidency. Though a southern man, he was a 
mountain white and hated the planters. By an amnesty proc- 
lamation (May 29, 1865) Johnson undertook to shut out the old 
southern leaders, and to leave the poor whites to form new state 
governments. Accordingly, during the year 1865, while Congress 
was not in session, Johnson appointed civil governors for the 
southern states. These governors called constitutional conven- 
tions, which formed antislavery constitutions, and new elections 
were then held for members of Congress, and governors, and for 
legislatures which chose United States senators. In December, 



488 Reconstruction of the Union 

1865, members-elect appeared from all the seceded states 
except Texas, and demanded seats in Congress. 

315. Reconstruction by Congress (1866-1867) 

Unfortunately for the South, some of the states passed stat- 
utes on "vagrancy" and "labor contracts" which made the 
negro field hands subject to masters for terms of many months. 
The North believed that if those states were left to themselves 
they would after a few years reenslave the negro ; and that if 
their members were admitted to Congress, a large part of the 
work of the Civil War would be undone. Congress, therefore, 
took the question of reconstruction into its own hands by a 
joint resolution of both houses (March 2, 1866) to the effect 
that neither house would admit senators or representatives 
from a seceding state, until Congress as a whole should decide 
that the state was again to be represented. 

President Johnson's plan of reconstruction was thus quite 
set aside. He was a coarse, blustering man, who did not know 
how to get on with other people, who had no powerful friends, 
and who was not trusted by the antislavery people. The Re- 
publican leaders were backed by a two-thirds majority in both 
branches of Congress, and openly broke with the President 
by passing over his veto a Civil Rights Act (April 9), which 
placed the negroes under the protection of the federal govern- 
ment. 

In order to put it out of the power of a later Congress to give 
up the principles of the Civil Rights Act, the two houses in 1866 
submitted the Fourteenth Amendment. The main principles 
of this amendment are four: (i) For the protection of the 
negro, all persons born or naturalized in the United States 
are declared to be citizens of the United States and also of the 
state in which they reside; and states are forbidden to "de- 
prive any person of life, liberty, or property without due pro- 
cess of law," or to "abridge the privileges or immunities of 
citizens of the United States." Thus a great field of power 



Motives of Reconstruction 48^ 

over persons was transferred from the states to Congress. (2) 
In order to favor negro suffrage, any states which cut off adult 
male citizens from voting, were to lose part of their representa- 
tion in Congress. (3) To punish the leaders in the Confederacy, 
many of them were excluded from state or national office (§ 312). 
(4) To set a stigma forever on secession, the Confederate and 
state debts incurred "in aid of insurrection or rebelHon against 
the United States" were declared void. 

In a formal Reconstruction Act (March 2, 1867) Congress 
passed over the "state suicide theory," and accepted a com- 
promise between the "conquered provinces" and "forfeited 
rights" theories (§ 314), by providing that the seceded states 
before they could come back into the Union must frame new 
constitutions, must give the negro the suffrage, and must ratify 
the Fourteenth Amendment and thereby consent to punish 
their own leaders. 

316. Motives or Reconstruction (1866-1869) 

These were harsh terms, and it has often been charged 
that their purpose was to crush the South and put the intelH- 
gent people there under control of the most ignorant part of 
the population. Perhaps that was the motive of the man most 
responsible for the measure, Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania. 
He was a lawyer who went into politics as a Whig, and declared 
that he was hostile to slavery " in every form and place." When 
the war broke out, Stevens was chairman of the Committee on 
Ways and Means, and legislative leader of the House. When 
people talked about the Constitution, he said in the House, 
"I hold that none of the states now in rebellion are entitled 
to the protection of the Constitution." Stevens was one of 
the best debaters who ever sat in Congress, but he was abso- 
lutely one-sided in politics and thought everybody on the 
other side a scoundrel. He was strongly in favor of emanci- 
pation, not so much to help the slaves as to hurt the slaveholders ; 
and he insisted on enlisting negroes in the army, for he said : 



490 Reconstruction of the Union 

"The only place where they can find equality is in the grave. 
There all God's children are equal. " He favored negro suffrage 
because it would "continue the Republican ascendancy." 

Most northern people, though they felt that secession was 
a crime, were willing to let the states come back into the Union, 
and to allow the South to recover its prosperity, if they could 
be sure that the negroes would have a fair chance. This point 
of view was represented in the Supreme Court, which was 
much altered by President Lincoln's appointment of five new 
judges under the leadership of Chief Justice Chase, former 
Secretary of the Treasury. The Court made a series of de- 
cisions on the war and reconstruction (1866 to 1869), in which 
the right of the Union to make war on rebellious states was af- 
firmed, and the right of Congress to reconstruct such states 
after the war was supported. In the famous Texas vs. White 
case (1869) the court dwelt on "an indestructible Union com- 
posed of indestructible States." As for individuals, Chief 
Justice Chase held that the usual penalties for treason were 
superseded by the Fourteenth Amendment, and Jefferson 
Davis was therefore set free after two years of imprisonment. 

317. Process or Reconstruction (1867-187 i) 

While the southern states were reorganizing, they remained 
under the authority of military commanders, who vetoed laws, 
removed civil governors, dismissed legislatures, issued orders 
where the legislatures did not pass acts, made ordinances for 
the cities, and in general exercised many of the powers of des- 
potism. Yet, with few exceptions, they were moderate and 
just rulers. Reconstruction under the acts of Congress was a 
slow process. Members of Congress from Tennessee were 
readmitted in 1867, from six more states in 1868, from Virginia, 
Mississippi, and Texas in 1870 ; Georgia, the last of the eleven 
seceding States, after being twice set back, was at last allowed 
to reenter the complete Union in 1871. Several of the border 
states, though not covered by the Reconstruction Act, went 



Quarrel with President Johnson 491 

into the hands of Republican majorities, who disfranchised 
former Confederates. By ratifications of twenty northern states 
and ten southern states, the Fourteenth Amendment was de- 
clared (July 28, 1868) to be a part of the Constitution. 

The Freedmen's Bureau was allowed to lapse in 1869; but, 
in order to put negro suffrage out of the control of the southern 
states, a Fifteenth Amendment was framed by Congress (1868). 
It forbade any state to withhold the suffrage on account of "race, 
color, or previous condition of servitude." It was duly ratified 
by the aid of reconstructed legislatures and became a part of 
the Constitution (March 30, 1870). 

When the southern states were fully restored, the adult negro 
men had the suffrage. Every legislature had negro members, 
and some of them a negro majority. Most of these negroes 
were ignorant men who were controlled by two classes of whites, 
called "scalawags" (southern Repubhcans) and "carpetbag- 
gers" (northern men who had gone to the South to get into 
politics). Taxes were increased, debts ran up, and the extrav- 
agance and corruption of some of the legislatures surpass 
beUef. The state debt of Alabama swelled from $8,000,000 
to $25,000,000 in six years; the South CaroUna legislature 
spent $350,000 in one session for "supphes, sundries, and 
incidentals." These losses came on states already impoverished 
by four years of war — states in which almost the whole com- 
munity, white and black, was poor and struggling. 

318. Quarrel with President Johnson (1866-1868) 

Several efforts were made to induce the Supreme Court to 
stop the course of the reconstruction acts passed by Congress, 
by a judicial decision, but the court refused to interfere. Presi- 
dent Johnson therefore felt bound to carry out most of these 
laws. Meantime he was engaged in a violent quarrel with Con- 
gress and tried to arouse public sentiment by coarse and abusive 
speeches, especially during the political campaign of 1866, 
when he said, "We have seen hanging upon the verge of the 



492 Reconstruction of the Union 

Government, as it were, a body called, or which assumes to be, 
the Congress of the United States." 

He did himself more harm than good ; for in 1866 a Republican 
and anti- Johnson two-thirds majority was again elected to both 
houses of Congress. Johnson kept up the fight by vetoing in 
all 21 bills, 15 of which were carried over his veto. He also 
tried to head the Democratic party — just at that time called 
Conservatives. The Republican House of Representatives went 
so far as to present articles of impeachment against President 
Johnson (1868), and the trial before the Senate lasted over two 
months. Discarding many trifling charges, the managers se- 
lected for a test vote the charge that Johnson had tried to re- 
move Secretary Stanton, contrary to a Tenure of Ofifice Act 
which had been passed over his veto. Thirty-five senators (all 
Republicans) voted for conviction; nineteen senators (twelve 
Democrats and seven Republicans) voted for acquittal. The 
impeachment failed, though a change of one vote would have 
made the necessary two-thirds vote. There is now no doubt 
that the dissenting Republican senators saved the country 
from the dangerous precedent of removing a President because 
he differed with and quarreled with Congress. 

319. Seward's Foreign Policy (1861-1869) 

During the Civil War, the United States found itself in 
several difficulties which were settled after peace came : 

(i) Mexico. The first of these was caused by a French oc- 
cupation of Mexico. Napoleon III, emperor of the French, 
took advantage of the embarrassment of the Union in 1861 to 
send an expedition to collect damages from Mexico, and ex- 
tended it into a war of conquest. A French army set up what 
they called an Empire, with Maximilian, an Austrian archduke, 
as emperor (1864). This occupation of Mexico was very offen- 
sive to the United States ; and Secretary Seward many times 
warned the French not to force a monarchical government on 
an American republic. At the end of the Civil War a large 



Seward's Foreign Policy 493 

force of Union troops was sent to Texas, as a hint to the un- 
desirable invaders across the Mexican boundary. Seward's 
firmness compelled the French to withdraw in 1867. Maxi- 
milian was taken prisoner by his subjects, and shot ; and that 
was the end of the Empire of Mexico. 

(2) Central America and the West Indies. Another group 
of foreign questions related to the Isthmus route to California 
and to a naval station in the West Indies. Secretary Seward 
made treaties with Honduras and Nicaragua, looking toward 
a canal. Then he turned to the West Indies, and pressed upon 
the Danish government a treaty of purchase for the little 
islands of St. Thomas and St. John (1867) ; but the Senate de- 
clined to ratify the treaty, in which there was little public in- 
terest. Then he tried hard to annex Samana Bay in the island 
republic of Santo Domingo — but the Senate would not listen. 

(3) Alaska. Another project of annexation was successful. 
Russia, during the Civil War, had been extremely friendly; 
and when it became known that Russia would like to dispose 
of Russian America, Seward surprised the whole country by 




Alaska. 



494 Reconstruction of the Union 

arranging a treaty for the purchase of the whole region for 
$7,200,000; and it was ratified by the Senate (April 9, 1867). 
People knew very little about the region, which is now named 
Alaska ; but it comprised half a million square miles of land, 
a valuable seal fishery, and a rich gold-mining region. 

320. Grant and Reconstruction (1869-1873) 

The presidential election of 1868 gave the approval of the 
majority of the actual voters to the Congressional plan of re- 
construction. The Republicans nominated General Grant; 
the Democrats put up Horatio Seymour of New York. Two 
of the eight states just readmitted to the Union voted for Sey- 
mour, but Grant received 214 electoral votes to 80, and a 
popular majority of 300,000. 

President Grant came into ofl&ce in March, 1869, and had 
a stormy administration. He was absolutely honest and truth- 
ful and a sincerely patriotic man, but he had an unwaver- 
ing belief in those whom he selected as friends. He wanted to 
give orders himself ; and hie friends made him believe that he was 
essential to the salvation of the country. Like General Jackson, 
Grant made a vigorous fight for the rights of the President; 
and he used his veto power forty-three times, principally against 
special pension and relief bills. Grant was the first President 
after John Quincy Adams who desired a nonpartisan civil 
service. He was opposed to the practice of removing the civil 
officers of the government, down to floor scrubbers, every time 
a new President came in ; and he induced Congress in 1871 to 
pass a civil service reform act. He tried to carry it out in good 
faith, till Congress three years later cut off the appropriations 
and the scheme collapsed. / 

Throughout Grant's first administration (1869-1873) recon- 
struction was dragging along. The South was protesting against 
the carpetbag governments, and many northern Democrats 
proposed to wipe out the three amendments if they could come 
into control of the national government. Within five years after 



Failure of Reconstruction 495 

the last of the states was readmitted (§317), something very like 
a "second rebellion" arose; and the result was that three of 
the main principles of reconstruction ceased to work. 

321. Failure of Reconstruction (1869-1874) 

The failure of reconstruction included the defeat of all three 
of the main objects of the whole system of severe laws, and 
also a serious Hmitation of negro suffrage in the lower South. 

(i) The very moderate punishment of individuals under the 
Fourteenth Amendment (§ 315) ceased; for Congress used its 
power to pass an amnesty act (1872) by which all but about 
three hundred former Confederate leaders were restored to politi- 
cal rights. Many of those excepted were restored by special 
acts, but none ever reached Jefferson Davis or Robert E. Lee. 

(2) The punishment of the states came to an end when they 
were admitted to their former full share in the Union. 

(3) The special protection of the negro, supposed to be em- 
bedded in the Fourteenth Amendment, was much weakened by 
decisions of the Supreme Court, which ruled (1869) that the 
amendment was not "intended to bring within the power of 
Congress the entire domain of civil rights, heretofore belonging 
exclusively to the states." Congress then passed a Civil Rights 
Act (1875) to give the negroes the same privileges as white 
people in hotels, railroad cars, and so on ; but it was some years 
later held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. 

(4) Negro suffrage was broken up in many states by violence, 
through the Ku-Klux Klan movement (begun in 1868). Young 
men, masked and disguised, rode about the country at night, 
threatening the negroes, and dragging out and whipping or 
even shooting their leaders. White men also, especially the 
"carpetbaggers," were terrorized and sometimes driven out. 
Congress in vain attempted to protect the negroes by the 
"Force Bills" of 1870 and 1871, under which the President 
had authority to send troops to protect the poUing places in 
the South. 



496 



Reconstruction of the Union 




Election of 1872. 



The Ku-Klux Klan gave the Republicans a new campaign 
issue for the presidential election of 1872. The Democrats 
combined with the Liberal Republicans (an anti-Grant organi- 
zation) to nominate Horace Greeley, the old-time abolitionist 
and hater of the Democratic party. Grant was easily reelected 

by the RepubU- 
cans by 286 elec- 
toral votes to 63 ; 
and he had a pop- 
ular majority of 
700,000. 

In the South 
the effort of the 
Democrats to get 
the state govern- 
ments out of the 
hands of the "car- 
petbaggers" brought about several httle civil wars, especially 
in Louisiana, where for weeks two legislatures, each support- 
ing a governor, sat in halls a few squares from each other. 
The whole country was weary of the squabbles. In the so- 
called "tidal wave" of congressional elections in 1874, a large 
number of Democratic members were elected to the House 
from the South. From that time nearly all the negroes in 
the lower South were prevented by persuasion, or fraud, or 
force, or by new state constitutions from influencing any south- 
ern election where their vote could affect the result; in the 
former border states, and in Texas and Tennessee, they con- 
tinued to vote till after 1890. The white voters, under their 
war-time leaders, were again in the saddle. 

322. Public Finance (1865-1875) 

Besides the political reconstruction of individuals and states, 
the finances of the federal government and of the northern and 
southern states had to be reorganized. 



Public Finance 497 

Both South and North came out of the war with very heavy 
pubHc debts. The Fourteenth Amendment disposed of the 
Confederate debts, and also of debts contracted by seceding 
states in aid of the war, by providing that they should never 
be paid (§ 315). The southern states, under the lead of the 
"carpetbag" legislatures, issued a new set of bonds for bor- 
rowed money ; but some of the bonds were fraudulent, and sev- 
eral states, including Virginia, simply refused to pay this debt. 

The northern state governments were more prudent and 
by 1885 they owed, taken together, only about $100,000,000. 
On the other hand the cities of the North were borrowing money 
right and left ; and the result was that the total public debt — 
national, state, and local — constantly increased. Still the 
country was growing in prosperity and wealth and did not feel 
the burden of the interest payments. 

The outstanding national debt in 1870 was $2,481,000,000 
and the local debts were $270,000,000. The national govern- 
ment at once began to pay off its obligations. Till 1893 every 
year showed a surplus of receipts over expenses, available 
for that purpose. The lowest point reached was $839,000,000 
net debt in 1893. "Internal revenue" on liquors and tobacco 
furnished about a third of the national income, customs duties 
about two thirds ; and there was a little from the public lands. 

A very serious question was that of the paper money. After 
Congress forced the state chartered banks to stop issuing notes 
the currency was made up of "greenbacks" (§ 303), national 
bank notes, and paper small change, for all of which the federal 
government took the responsibility. Greenbacks in 1865 were 
worth about seventy cents on the dollar, measured in gold ; by 
1 87 1 they rose to ninety cents. 

At first it was intended that the greenbacks should be paid off 
in hard money, but in 1866 there was a small commercial panic, 
and then came an outcry that the bondholders had paid green- 
backs for their bonds, and ought to be repaid in the same paper 
money ; that is, that the national debt should be paid with 
hart's new amer. hist. — 31 



498 Reconstruction of the Union 

a different kind of debt. A political movement began, called 
the "Ohio Idea," or by its enemies the "Rag Baby," which 
startled Congress into voting (February 4, 1868) that the green- 
backs should not be reduced below $350,000,000. A year later, 
however. Congress voted that the bonds should be paid in " coin." 
An effort was made to compel Congress to redeem the green- 
backs by showing that there was no constitutional power to 
issue them. In 1870 the Supreme Court held, in the Legal Ten- 
der cases, by four judges to three, that the greenbacks were 
unconstitutional. In a few months two vacancies occurred in 
the Supreme Court ; two new judges were appointed ; and 
by a majority of five to four the court held greenbacks justified 
under the war power, thus reversing the previous decision. 
Thirteen years later, the court ruled that legal tenders could 
be issued at any time, without regard to the war power. 

323. Currency Questions (1869-1875) 

Paper money was for ten years the most difficult question 
before Congress. 

(i) What was meant by "coin" in the Act of 1869? At 
that time both gold and silver bullion could be presented at 
the United States mint, which would return the weight (less 
a small deduction for coinage) in gold or silver coin. 

(2) In a long act on coinage (February 12, 1873) a brief clause 
was introduced — later dubbed the "Crime of 1873" — by 
which the coinage of the silver dollar was legally given up. At 
the time nobody objected, because no silver dollars were then in 
circulation. Gold coin was for five years the only coin struck 
by the mint which could be offered in large amounts as "legal 
tender " in payment of debt. Gold became by this act the legal 
standard of values, in which greenbacks were to be redeemed. 

(3) Instead of calling in and paying off the greenbacks, vig- 
orous efforts were made to add to the paper currency. A bill 
passed both houses of Congress (1874) for the issue of about 
fifty milHons more of greenbacks ; but President Grant vetoed 



Grant's Peace Policy 499 

it because "inflation of the currency" by issue of more paper 
money was contrary to the poUcy of the government. 

(4) Congress at last (1875) came to a decision to bring the 
greenbacks up to gold value, and passed an act for accumulating 
a specie reserve so as to be ready for resuming specie payments. 

324. Grant's Peace Policy (1869-1877) 

Several foreign questions of great importance went over to 
Grant's administration, and were settled under the influence 
of Hamilton Fish, Grant's able Secretary of State. Most im- 
portant of these was the question of the Alabama Claims, 
which interfered with good relations with Great Britain during 
all the years from 1862 to 1872. These were claims against 
Great Britain for damages of several kinds, especially : (i) the 
recognition of the belHgerency of the Confederacy (§ 302) ; 
(2) captures of American merchantmen by the Alabama and 
other cruisers built or fitted out in British ports (§ 286) ; (3) 
hospitahty to Confederate war ships in British ports, and 
allowing them to coal and refit; (4) "indirect damages," for 
the supposed prolonging of the war through British sympathy. 

Public feehng ran high and some bold spirits clamored for 
war. The heads of the British government gradually made 
up their minds to admit that a mistake had been made. Hence 
they agreed to the Treaty of Washington (May, 1871) in which 
Great Britain made a formal apology "for the escape, under 
whatever circumstances, of the Alabama and other vessels from 
British ports." A Commission of Arbitration to fix the amount 
of the damages met at Geneva (1872), examined the evidence, 
and adjudged the sum of $15,500,000 to be paid by Great 
Britain to the United States. 

Another arbitration with Great Britain settled a long-pend- 
ing controversy over the national ownership of the San Juan 
group of islands between Vancouver and the mainland ; they 
were awarded to the United States. A dispute over the northern 
fisheries led to a third arbitration commission, which decided 



500 



Reconstruction of the Union 




(1877) that for certain 
privileges desired by 
American fishermen on 
the coasts of Canada, 
for a period of ten 
years, the sum of S5,- 
500,000 should be paid 
by the United States. 

One of the lessons 
of the Civil War was 
that the United States 
needed naval stations 
in the West Indies. 
Grant and Fish re- 
vived Seward's poHcy 
as to the negro re- 
public of Santo Do- 
mingo, and a treaty 
of annexation was 
drawn up in 1869; but Senator Charles Sumner of Massachu- 
setts (§ 254) used his personal influence to defeat it. 

On other West Indian questions Grant was more moderate. 
In 1868 the native Cubans rebelled against the Spanish rule. 
On both sides it was a war of atrocities : the insurgents burned 
the sugar plantations ; the Spaniards shot the insurgents hke 
wild beasts. Our government remained neutral and tried to 
prevent filibusters (§ 256) from slipping over to aid the Cubans. 
In 1873 the filibustering steamer Virginius was captured by a 
Spanish cruiser and eight Americans were shot. There would 
have been war but that President Grant was determined to 
have peace, and the Spanish government made due amends. 

325. Review 

Though the Civil War lasted only four years, it took eight 
years more to restore the Union. The main difficulties were: 



Grant's Tomb, New York. 



Review 501 

(i) The southern whites. Should they be punished for their 
share in the war? (2) The negroes, who were set free as the 
result of the war. What would become of them? (3) The 
seceded states. Were they already in the Union or must they 
be brought back by a new process ? 

Congress refused to accept its former doctrine that the states 
had never been out of the Union, and eventually passed several 
acts under which those states had to allow the negroes to take 
part in public affairs. Those men who had been most active 
in the Confederacy were excluded from public office, but no 
one was tried for treason. 

Congress sought to make the results of the war permanent 
by submitting three constitutional amendments: (i) the 
Thirteenth (1865), forever prohibiting slavery; (2) the Four- 
teenth (1868), intended to make the negroes citizens and to 
protect them in personal rights; (3) the Fifteenth (1870), 
protecting negro suffrage. Some of the southern states came 
under the influence of "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags" who 
could control the negro vote. When President Johnson set 
himself against Congress he was all but impeached by the Senate. 

Secretary Seward initiated a policy of influence and expansion 
by causing the French to leave Mexico ; by attempting annexa- 
tions in the West Indies ; and by securing Alaska (1867). 

General Grant became President in 1869, and tried to reform 
the administration. Reconstruction broke down because the 
Supreme Court took the pith out of the Fourteenth Amendment 
by its decisions; and the organization known as the Ku- 
Klux Klan prevented the negroes from voting. Most of the 
southern states went over to the Democratic party. 

The Confederate and southern state debts were shut out, 
but the Union carried a heavy public debt. The greenbacks 
were continued, and an effort was made to pay off the bonds in 
that currency. Silver ceased to be coined by an act of 1873. 
President Grant was successful in settling the claims against 
Great Britain, and pursued a policy of peace. 



502 Reconstruction of the Union 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 343, 485, 493, 533. — Bogart, 
Econ. Hist., 389. — Dunning, Reconstruction, 4, 82, 114, 158. 

Secondary. Adams, C. F. Adams, ch. xix. — Bancroft, W. H. 
Seward, II. 419-500. — Bassett, U.S., 594-652, 660-664, 668-674, 782- 
784. — Brown, Lower South, 191-225. — Burton, John Sherman, chs. 
vii-xi. — Dewey, Finan. Hist., §§ 142-158, 163-170. — Fish, Am. 
Dipl., chs. xxiii-xxv; Am. Nationality, 407-431, 443-446. — Hart, S. 
P. Chase, chs. xiii-xvi. —Ha worth. Reconstruction and Union, 7-71. — 
Linn, Horace Greeley, 214-259. — Lothrop, W. H. Seward, ch. xxi. — 
Paxson, New Nation, 27-66, 75-80. — Rhodes, U.S., V. 516-626, VI, VII. 
1-194. — Stan wood, /. G. Blaine, chs. v, vi ; Presidency, I. chs. xxiii, xxiv. 

Sources. Am. Annual Cyclopedia, 1865 to 1875. — Caldwell and 
Persinger, Source Hist., 469-483. — Fleming, Doc. Hist, of Reconstruc- 
tion. — Harding, Select Orations, nos. 29-32. — Hart, Contemporaries, 
IV. §§141-157, 173-176; Source Book, §§127-132, 134. — Hill, 
Liberty Docs., ch. xxiii. — Johnson, Readings, §§ 168-192. — Johnston, 
Am. Orations, IV. 149-188. — MacDonald, Select Statutes, nos. 44-95, 
99. — Smedes, Southern Planter, 231-341. — Welles, Diary, II, III. 

Illustrative. Cable, John March, Southerner. — De Forest, Honest 
John Vane (Washington). — Glasgow, Voice of the People. — Hale, 
Mrs. Merriam's Scholars. — Locke, Struggles of Petroleum V. Nasby. — 
Lowell, Biglow Papers (2d. ser.). — Page, Red Rock. — Thanet, Expia- 
tion. — Tourgee, Fool's Errand; Bricks without Straw. 

Pictures. Andrews, Last Quarter Century. — Frank Leslie's Weekly. 

— Harper's Weekly. — Wilson, Am. People, V. 

Topics Answerable from References Above 

(i) Robert E. Lee, or General Grant, or Jefferson Davis, in recon- 
struction. [§ 312] — (2) Debates on the Thirteenth, or Fourteenth, or 
Fifteenth Amendment. [§§ 313, 315, 317] — (3) Public career of Thaddeus 
Stevens. [§316] — (4) Process of reconstruction of any one of the eleven 
seceding states. [§317] — (5) Impeachment of Andrew Johnson. [§ 318] 

— (6) Incidents of the Ku-Klux Klan movement. [§ 321] — (7) Incidents 
of the Geneva arbitration. [§ 324] — (8) San Juan Islands. [§ 324] 

Topics for Further Search 

(9) The Freedmen's Bureau. [§ 313] — (10) Why did Congress break 
with President Johnson? [§ 315] — (11) Why did the French leave 
Mexico? [§ 319] — (12) Why did Russia sell Alaska? [§ 319] — (13) Rival 
governments in Louisiana, or Arkansas. [§ 321] — (14) Greenback 
movement. [§ 322] — (15) Resumption of specie payments. [§ 323] 



CHAPTER XXIX 
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGES (1865-1885) 

326. New Conditions 

While political reconstruction was going on and the govern- 
ment of the United States was slowly returning to the former 
condition of a Union including all the states, the business of 
the country was going through a series of changes which were 
almost as significant. The economic conditions of the two 
sections were very different. The North was prosperous dur- 
ing most of the war. The eastern states grew rapidly, and at 
the same time population pushed out to new frontiers ; towns 
and cities sprang up from end to end of the country ; railroads 
were extended ; and new mines and factories were opened. It 
was this prosperity which made it possible for the nation to 
pay high taxes during the war and to carry the tremendous 
national debt. 

So long as fighting continued, and for ten years afterward, 
the South was in a bad economic condition. The principal 
export, cotton, could not be sent to market except in small 
quantities. Most of the banks and large business houses were 
ruined. Stocks of goods were entirely exhausted. Long 
stretches of railroads were torn up by invading armies. The 
seaports were in decay as a result of the blockade. The South 
as a community was bankrupt at the end of the war. 

Still, the natural resources of both North and South were 
enormous. The southern land was there and produced cotton 
which fortunately commanded an unusually high price. In 
the North, wheat, oats, corn, and all sorts of agricultural products 

503 



504 Social and Economic Changes 

abounded. Both sections were rich in coal and iron, and the 
western plateau region was beginning to produce silver and gold. 
Above all, millions of laborers were on hand to make available 
these gifts of nature. Fully 1,500,000 able-bodied men returned 
from the war, ready to take their places as farmers, workmen, 
professional men, and business managers. The North had 
money to lend, and part of its savings could be invested in 
the South. Europe was also ready to lend and to invest, on 
a great scale, the money that was so much needed for the de- 
velopment of the North and the restoration of the South. Such 
force and vigor required only a proper organization of business 
to make all parts of the country rich. 

327. Laborers and Immigrants 

Laborers were numerous. In the South the mountaineers kept 
up their farms in much the same shiftless fashion as before the 
war, barely supporting their families from year to year. The 
old class of substantial famihes tilling their own land remained 
in the border states, and in North Carolina, Tennessee, and 
Texas. The rough work of the towns and cities, together with 
much of the building of every kind, continued to be done by 
negroes. They also cut most of the timber, built the railroads, 
worked as section hands and farmers, and did the crude labor 
for the factories. In the fields, they furnished nearly all the 
hired labor, for the South was obhged to adopt something ap- 
proaching a wage system. The negro hands were not very 
efficient, but still they were on the ground, knew the tasks, and 
raised probably two thirds or more of the annual crop of cotton. 

Northern labor was on a far better footing. The farmer 
owning and working his own land was considered the normal, 
usual worker in the open country. Hired farm laborers were 
few, for there was such a demand for labor in mines and fac- 
tories and on lines of transportation that any good man could 
find a job at attractive wages. Many of the farmers' sons found 
their way to the cities, where the most energetic and able be- 



Development of the Far West 505 

came foremen, managers, owners of shops, stores, and factories, 
bankers, and proprietors of railroads and other corporations. 

Northern labor and industry were greatly aided by foreign 
immigration, which was resumed on a large scale as soon as the 
Civil War ended. Irish and German immigration was heavy. 
English, Welsh, Scotch, Scandinavians, and Swiss also came 
in large niimbers. Wars in central Europe between Prussia 
on one side and Denmark, Austria, and France in turn on the 
other (1864-1870) led most European nations to require that 
every able-bodied young man should have military training 
for at least a year or two. Hence when German and other im- 
migrants went back to visit friends, if they had originally come 
away without having served the required term in the army, 
they were liable to arrest, even though naturalized citizens of 
the United States. 

To get rid of this trouble, a set of treaties was negotiated (be- 
ginning in 1868) with the various German states, and with 
Belgium, Austria, Great Britain, and several small powers, by 
which if a native of those countries comes to the United States 
and stays five years, he loses his native citizenship, whether nat- 
uralized here or not ; but if he goes back to his mother country 
and lives there two years, he may lose his American citizenship. 

The welcome to immigrants extended across the Pacific. 
Chinese laborers drifted to California and Oregon, and thou- 
sands of them were employed in the construction of the Pacific 
railroads (§ 329). In 1868 the "Burlingame Treaty" specifi- 
cally promised that our government would protect Chinese in 
this country in the enjoyment of the same rights as those en- 
joyed by citizens of other countries. Nobody then seemed to 
doubt that immigration of any kind added to the prosperity 
and happiness of the United States. 

328. Development of the Far West (i 861-1876) 

The immigrants helped to develop the West, into which 
settlers were pouring by hundreds of thousands. Many were 



5o6 Social and Economic Changes 

attracted by the Homestead Act, passed in 1862, under which 
any head of a family, native or foreign born, might take up 160 
acres of government land, and at the end of five years' residence 
receive a title to it free of cost. Within ten years 28,000,000 acres 
of land were thus " homesteaded " ; and 9,000,000 acres were 
given away under an act of 1873, granting "tree claims" 

to settlers who would 



plant and keep alive 
a certain number of 
trees. 

Another cause for 
the rush to the West 
was the discovery of 
new mines — copper at 
Butte, Montana (1864), 
gold in the Black Hills 
of Dakota and Wyo- 
ming (1874), silver at 
Leadville, Colorado 
(1876). Between 1861 and 1876 it was found desirable to 
organize three new western states: Nevada (1864), Nebraska 
(1867), and Colorado (1876), raising the total number to thirty- 
eight. Congress also set up the territories of Dakota, Idaho, 
Arizona, Montana, and Wyoming. 

Much of the western country was still unknown to white 
men when, in 1869, Major Powell, with a dare-devil boat expedi- 
tion, went down the Colorado River, and revealed the wonders 
of its Grand Canyon. In 1870 an exploring party reached the 
upper Yellowstone valley, and made known the canyons, hot 
springs, and spouting geysers which are among the greatest 
of our natural wonders. 

The Indian reservations established in the Northwest in 
Jackson's time (§ 240) were hard pressed by the wave of white 
settlement. President Grant set on foot a "peace policy" 
in 1869, by which he hoped to civilize the Indians. Many 




A Western Homestead, about 1875. 



Railroads 



507 



reservations were placed under agents nominated by religious 
societies. Nevertheless, Indian wars could not be stopped. 
The little Modoc tribe in the lava beds of northern California 
for many months (1872-1873) defied the whole United States 
government ; and the Sioux of the upper Missouri country, 
under the leadership of Chief Sitting Bull, in 1876 totally 





An Army Ambulance on the Western Plains. 



destroyed a force of about two hundred troops with their com- 
mander. General Custer ; but this was the last dangerous 
contest with the Indians in the Northwest. 

329. Railroads 

The rapid settlement of the West was made possible by the 
railroads. All the eastern roads had state charters, which 
could give no rights outside the state limits. Hence "parent 
companies" were formed to lease or operate local lines. Fore- 
most were the Pennsylvania Company, which now holds at 
least thirty charters in twelve states, and the New York Cen- 
tral. Many short lines in the West were merged into great 
systems such as the Chicago and Northwestern, and the Chicago 
Burlington and Quincy. In this process there was plenty of 
"stock watering" ; that is, issuing of shares to an amount 
greater than the cost of the property, and then trying to earn 
dividends on the whole capital. 

Up to the Civil War most of the railroads were organized in 



5o8 Social and Economic Changes 

lengths of a few hundred miles at most. Cornelius Vander- 
bilt, a steamboat king, bought an interest in several railroads 
branching out from New York, and in 1869 made a union 
between the Hudson River Railroad and the New York Cen- 
tral, which gave an all-rail line, under one management, from 
the wharves of New York to the wharves of Buffalo. The 
Pennsylvania Railroad, till then running from Philadelphia to 
Pittsburgh, absorbed the Fort Wayne route to Chicago (1869). 
and the Pan Handle route to Cincinnati and St. Louis ; and in 




A Transatlantic Steamer in 1875. (Steamship Wyoming of the 
Guion Line.) 

1875 changed its eastern terminus to New York. It also 
founded an "American Line" of steamers (1873) sailing from 
Philadelphia to Liverpool. 

The delay and expense of ferry transfers across broad rivers 
led to the building of great railroad and highway bridges. The 
first bridge across the middle Mississippi was built at Rock 
Island, Illinois, in 1856. Between 1865 and 1880 that river was 
bridged at a dozen other places, and in 1874 the Eads steel 
arch railway bridge was constructed at St. Louis. In 1867 a 
wagon suspension bridge was built across the Ohio from Cin- 



Railroads 509 

c:innati to Covington ; and the river was bridged for a railroad 
at Parkersburg in 1871. The greatest work of this kind was 
the suspension bridge from New York to Brooklyn, 1595 feet 
span, and 135 feet above the water level, begun in 1870, and 
opened for travel in 1883. 

During the Civil War it became plain that, a railroad across 
the continent to California was necessary if California was to 
be held in the Union. For this purpose (beginning in 1862) Con- 
gress chartered the Union Pacific, Northern Pacific, Atlantic 
and Pacific, and Texas and Pacific companies; Congress also 
granted lands and privileges to these roads and to the Central 
Pacific, Kansas Pacific, Southern Pacific, and the short Western 
Pacific and Sioux City and Pacific roads. 

Construction was pushed rapidly on the most direct of the 
trunk lines, that from Omaha via Great Salt Lake to California ; 
and in 1869 the last spike was driven at Ogden, Utah, and a 
through rail connection was thus estabhshed, 191 7 miles long, 
from Omaha to San Francisco. State-chartered roads filled 
the gap from Chicago to Omaha. 

By 1885 the companies mentioned above had built four lines 
to the Pacific coast : the Northern Pacific from Lake Superior 
to Puget Sound; the Union Pacific and Central Pacific from 
Omaha and Kansas City to San Francisco; the Southern 
Pacific from New Orleans to San Francisco via El Paso ; and the 
Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe from Kansas City to San Diego. 

These roads were not like the former state-chartered roads. 
They all had a connection with the federal government: (i) 
The long through lines were chartered by Congress, which pre- 
vented the states from interfering with their through business. 
(2) Most of them had land grants — half the government land 
lying in a strip twenty miles wide, in some instances forty 
miles wide, along their whole length, amounting in all to 
117,000,000 acres. (3) The government lent large sums to the 
Union, Central, Kansas, Western, and Sioux City and Pacific 
roads to an amount finally of $64,000,000. 



Commercial Questions 511 

330. Commercial Questions (1865-1885) 

Business increased by leaps and bounds throughout the Union, 
and a new commercial system grew up to meet the needs of the 
time. 

(i) Banking was much changed. About half the banking 
capital was owned by national banks, chartered by a general act 
of Congress ; they deposited government bonds in Washington 
and received national bank notes which were as acceptable as 
greenbacks, and therefore were at par in gold after 1879 (§ 335). 
Some state chartered banks kept on without issuing any notes 
(§ 3^3)j ^^^ private banking houses acted as finance agents. 
The Drexel firm in Philadelphia, the Morgan firm of New York, 
and the Lee-Higginson firm in Boston are examples. A new 
kind of banks called "trust companies" began to operate in the 
great money centers. They did a regular banking business and 
also aided in the transactions of large corporations. 

(2) The savings of the country were invested in all kinds of 
ways. Great numbers of people bought farms or town houses ; 
other people put their savings into mortgages. The savings 
banks became very important; their total deposits were 
$1,095,000,000 in 1885. Life insurance was also developed 
as a means of saving and of providing for families. From 
1865 to 1886 the pohcy holders and the amounts invested 
increased nearly ten times over. The insurance companies 
and savings banks made a business of lending money on good 
real estate security, and that helped the building of towns and 
cities. 

(3) Corporations now became the usual form of great enter- 
prises of every sort, and many private firms found it convenient 
to change into stock companies, which could bring together the 
capital of many persons and hold them free from unlimited lia- 
bility for the corporation's debts. Manufacturers, miners, and 
owners of steamship companies and many other industries chose 
this form of investment. 



512 Social and Economic Changes 

(4) A new t>'pe of corporation was the great monopoly con- 
trolUng some large line of business. In 1870 was chartered in 
Ohio a corporation called the Standard Oil Company, directed 
principally by John D. Rockefeller, for the purpose of manu- 
facturing illuminating oil out of petroleum (§ 279). In a few 
years it became one of the largest and most profitable com- 
panies in the country. It consolidated with other companies ; 
it had special contracts with the railroads, and was soon able 
to force most of its rivals out of business; and its property, 
which in 1870 was about $1,000,000, rose in 1885 to an amount 
estimated at $150,000,000. 

Just after the Civil War came a period of fierce speculation : 
24,000 miles of new railroad were built in four years ; great 
losses came in the Chicago fire (1871) and in the Boston fire 
(1872), and a commercial crisis in 1873 caused failures to the 
amount of about $225,000,000. Several instances of fraud 
seemed to show a lax morality in business and in the public 
service. It was found (1872) that the Credit Mobilier, a corpo- 
ration formed to build the Union Pacific Railroad, had offered 
bribes in the form of its stock to members of Congress. A 
Whisky Ring was unearthed (1875), which was defrauding the 
government by false accounts. Secretary Belknap, of the 
War Department, was detected in selling the privilege to trade 
at army posts ; an attempt was made to impeach him, but he 
resigned, and the impeachment broke down for lack of a two- 
thirds vote (1876). 

331. Mechanical Improvements 

The foundation of business prosperity was the ability of the 
nation to produce every year more than was needed to carry 
it through the year, for the surplus could be put into new 
enterprises. One of the ways of increasing the profits was to 
use machinery in place of hand labor, and the Americans of 
the time were notably ingenious in labor-saving devices. Cheap 
machinery required cheap iron; and the blast furnaces for 




A Shoe-sewing 
Machine. 



Mechanical Improvements 513 

making pig iron were enlarged and provided with more power- 
ful machinery for blowing in air. Another great improvement 

was caused by the introduction of the 

Bessemer process for making steel direct 

from pig iron (1864). 

Bessemer steel furnished cheap and 

substantial railroad rails; the stronger 

wheel base made it possible to run 

heavier cars, carrying loads still heavier. 

and thus transportation was cheapened. 

After 1880 the track gauges of almost all 

the railroads were made uniform, so that 

through freight and passenger cars could 

be more widely used. Pullman and other 

sleeping, dining, and parlor cars came 

into use. Passenger rates on through 

routes were reduced, mileage tickets were 

introduced, and better stations erected. 

New methods of sending intelligence came into use. The 

Western Union Telegraph Company absorbed a number of 

small companies, and 
spread a net of wires 
and ofhces over the 
Union ; and in 1866 
the first permanently 
successful Atlantic ca- 
ble was laid. The mail 
system also underwent 
three improvements : 
delivery of mails by 
carriers (1863), postal 
money orders (1864), 

and mail cars in which clerks sort the mail while en route (1864). 
Hundreds of new inventions and improvements in old ones 

were made for the betterment of home life and business. Among 
hart's new amer. hist. — 32 




Steel Manufacture. 



514 Social and Economic Changes 

them were systems of heating buildings by hot air, steam, and 
hot water; artificial ice; barbed wire fencing and wire nails; 
house drainage ; building paper ; elevators for storing and load- 
ing grain ; passenger elevators in high buildings ; asphalt and 
wooden-block pavement ; plate glass windows of large dimen- 
sions ; improved firearms, especially the automatic machine 
guns of Hiram Maxim and others ; new explosives, especially 
dynamite ; sulky plows and other farm machinery ; compressed 

air drills for mining ; steel 
safes and bank vaults; 
chemical dyestuffs ; and 
new metals and alloys. 
The present form of bi- 
cycle was evolved from 
earlier patterns in 1884. 
The typewriter, first put 
on the market in 1874, 
furnished a new employ- 
ment for thousands of men 
and women. Typesetting 
and typecasting machines, 
perfected after 1890, have 
quickened and cheapened the process of making books and 
newspapers. 

The greatest inventive leap was in the use of electricity, 
especially in four forms: (i) electric lights — first the arc, 
then the incandescent — pushed into use by Charles F. Brush 
and Thomas A. Edison, who took out at Washington more 
than one thousand patents for various inventions; (2) the 
telephone, first exhibited by Professor Alexander Graham Bell 
in 1876; (3) electric trolley cars taking power from a wire, 
made practicable about 1884; (4) electric motors for fixed 
machinery and for wheeled vehicles. 

Many new safety appliances were adopted in the steam 
railroad service, especially the air brake, introduced by George 




An Early Form of Typewriter. 



Labor and Strikes 



51S 



Westinghouse (1868), the automatic coupler, the continuous 
car platform and vestibule, telegraphic train dispatching, and 
automatic switches and signals. 

The system of "assembling" machines out of parts, each of 
which is made by the thousand in standard dimensions, won- 
derfully cheapened many lines 
of manufacturing ; it was 
applied all the way from 
watch-making to locomotive 
building. It led, however, 
to subdivision and specializa- 
tion of labor, and tended to 
diminish the all-round train- 
ing of mechanics.. 

332. Labor and Strikes 
(1865-1885) 

The rolling up of capital in 
big units was paralleled by a 
combination of labor. The 
labor organizations began to 
seek various improvements of 
their condition which might 
be gained by action of the 
state legislatures. They urged 
laws making ten hours the normal day's work. They secured 
from Congress in 1885 a bill preventing the immigration of 
■'contract laborers"; that is, of men and women who came 
over under an agreement to work for a certain sum from an 
employer here. They began to demand inspection of factories, 
and relief from the bad conditions to which women and children 
were subjected. 

Trades unions were active long before the Civil War, and in 
1869 the order of Knights of Labor was founded, as a general 
society open to workmen of all trades; but its power was 




Linotype Machine. (Casts a line 
of type in one piece, from matrices 
" set " by use of a keyboard and after- 
wards " distributed " automatically.) 



5i6 Social and Economic Changes 

little felt before 1883. Contests between employers and organi- 
zations of workmen in particular trades, led to a series of ter- 
rible strikes, the worst of which was the railroad strike of 1877 
at Pittsburgh and other places. The railroads were paralyzed, 
trains and stations were set on fire, and millions of dollars' worth 
of property destroyed. The state authorities could not stop this 

disorder, and United 
States troops were 
eventually called in, 
and put it down. 

The greatest tri- 
umph of labor was the 
stopping of Chinese 
immigration (§327). 
The census of 1880 
showed 105,000 Chi- 
nese in the United 
States, chiefly on the 
Pacific coast. There 
a prejudice arose against them, especially among white 
laborers. An agitator named Dennis Kearney, "the Sand 
Lots Orator," headed a movement expressed in the last 
words of his every speech, "The Chinese must go !" In 1879 
Congress passed a bill to restrict the coming of the Chinese. 
Notwithstanding vetoes by President Hayes and President 
Arthur the immigration of Chinese laborers was "suspended" 
for ten years, — a principle to which the Chinese consented by 
treaty. Similar bills were passed from time to time to make 
the exclusion practically permanent. The action of Congress 
prevented the coming of hundreds of thousands of men who 
would have brought about a race difficulty like the negro ques- 
tion in the South. 

333. Review 

At the end of the Civil War, the South was practically ruined, 
while the North was prosperous and rich. The negroes were 




A Coal Miner's Model Dwelling. 



References 517 

employed on a new wage system, which took time to develop. 
The North offered many opportunities for laborers and drew 
a heavy immigration from abroad, including Chinese on the 
Pacific coast. The West was built up partly by the ease of ac- 
quiring land under the Homestead Act, and partly by the 
attraction of rich mines. As the frontier pressed upon the 
Indians, fierce wars broke out with several tribes. 

Many railroad lines were consolidated into systems, especially 
the great through lines from the seaboard to Chicago. The 
great rivers were bridged and, with the aid of the government, 
several railroads were constructed to the Pacific coast. 

As the country grew richer, banks increased and trust com- 
panies and savings banks were founded. Stock companies mul- 
tiplied, and great corporations controlling whole branches of 
industry began to appear. Speculation brought on corruption 
in government and heavy losses in business. 

The main causes for prosperity were the inventive genius 
of the Americans, the introduction of the Bessemer steel process, 
better systems of mail and telegraphy, and all kinds of in- 
ventions for the home and the office, particularly electrical 
devices. The skilled laborers banded together in organiza- 
tions, at first in a single trade, then under the Knights of Labor, 
into a national union. An era of serious strikes came on, 
beginning with the railroads ; and the labor men on the Pacific 
coast made a determined and successful effort to stop the im- 
migration of Chinese, 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. Bogart, Econ. Hist., 357, 490. — Dunning, 

Reconstruction, 142, 224. — Paxson, New Nation, 23, 146, 147. — 
Shepherd, Hist. Atlas, 210. — Sparks, Nat. Development, 20, 266. — 
U. S. Tenth Census, Atlas. 

Secondary. Bassett, U.S., 664-667, 676-691. — Beard, Contemp. 
Am. Hist., ch. ii. — Bogart, Econ. Hist., chs. xxii, xxiv, xxvii, xxx. — 
Buck, Granger Movement. — Coolidge, Chinese Immigration. — Dunning, 
Reconstruction, rh. ix. — Forsyth, Story of the Soldier, chs. vi-xvi. — ■ 



5i8 Social and Economic Changes 

Haney, Congressional Hist, of Railroads, II. chs. vi-xii. — Hebard, 
Patkbreakers, chs. vii-ix. — Hough, Story of the Cowboy. — McLaughlin, 
My Friend, the Indian. — O'Neill, Labor Movement, ch. v. — Parrish, 
Great Plains, 173-382. — Paxson, Last Am. Frontier, chs. ix-xxii ; New 
Nation, 20-27, 67-74, 92-97, 119-124, 142-151. — Shinn, Story of the 
Mine. — Warman, Story of the Railroad. — Wilson, Am. People, V. 
115-141, 164-169. — Wright, Indust. Evolution, 159-309. 

Soxirces. Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 601, 739, 749, 752, 779- 
781, 811, 815, 842. — Hart, Contemporaries, IV. §§ 162, 163; Source 
Book, § 138. — James, Readings, §§ 96, 97. — MacDonald, Select Statutes, 
nos. 106, 107, no. — See also contemporary magazines and newspapers. 

Illustrative. Adams, Log of a Cowboy. — Anderson, Heart of the 
Ancient Firs (Wash.). — Bindloss, Cattle- Baron's Daughter. — Birge, 
Awakening of the Desert. — Brooks, The Reservation (Minn.). — Carr, 
The Iron Way. — Churchill, Coniston. — Clemens, Roughing It. — 
Garland, Moccasin Ranch; The Little Norsk (northwest farming). — 
Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage (Mormons). — Overton, Heritage of 
Unrest (Indians). — White, The Westerners. — Wister, The Virginian. 

Pictures. Bogart, Econ. Hist. — Century. — Dunbar, History of Travel 
in Am. — Harper's Weekly. — Mentor, serial nos. 85, 87. — Scribner's. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Admission of Colorado. [§ 328] — (2) Account of one of the fol- 
lowing territories : Idaho ; Montana ; Wyoming ; Dakota ; Arizona. 
[§ 328] — (3) Powell's voyage down the Colorado River. [§ 328] — 
(4) Modoc War. [§ 328] — (5) Custer massacre. [§ 328] — (6) On a Pacific 
railroad crossing the plains; or frontier towns. [§ 329] — (7) Chicago 
fire. [§330] — (8) Bessemer steel process. [§ 331] — (9) Development 
of one of the following inventions : sleeping cars ; telegraph ; firearms ; 
locks and safes ; typewriter; typesetting machines ; electric lights ; tele- 
phones; electric trolley cars; train equipments; railroad signals. 
[§ 331] — (10) Railroad strikes. [§ 332] 

Topics for Further Search 

(11) Life of a former slaveholder's family after the War. [§ 327] — 
(12) Use of the Homestead Act. [§ 328] — (13) Industrial career of 
Cornelius Vanderbilt. [§ 329] — (14) Land grants to Pacific railroads. 
[§ 329] — (15) Early savings banks; or early life insurance. [§ 330] — 
(16) Early history of the Standard Oil Company. [§ 330] — (17) The 
Knights of Labor. [§ 332] — (18) Prohibition of Chinese immigration. 
[§ 332] 



CHAPTER XXX 
POLITICS AND ADMINISTRATION (1876-1896) 



334. Election of 1876 

An opportunity to measure the great social and commercial 
advance came in 1876, when the Americans commemorated the 
hundredth anniversary of 
the nation by a Centennial 
Exposition held at Phila- 
delphia. Machines and 
products of every kind 
were shown ; millions of 
people had their first op- 
portunity to see spinning, 
weaving, printing, paper 
manufacture, and like 
processes, actually per- 
formed before their eyes. 
Schools and colleges 
showed their methods and 
results. Foreign exhibi- 
tors brought over their 
wares, and the whole land 
was stirred by new ideas. 

When the time came to nominate a President in 1876, the 
Republican convention passed over the most prominent candi- 
date, James G. Blaine, recently Speaker of the House, who 
was strongly opposed by the friends of President Grant. 
They finally settled on a compromise candidate. General Ruth- 
erford B. Hayes, governor of Ohio. The Democrats nominated 
Samuel J. Tilden, recent governor of New York, an honest and 

519 




Samuel J. Tilden, about 1876. 



520 



Politics and Administration 




W^ Republ; 

1-1 Democratic 

Numbers indicate Electoral Vole 



Election of 1876. 



conservative man, the ablest in the party. An organization 
of the western farmers, under the name of Patrons of Husbandry 
— oftener called "Grangers" — which was formed in 1867, 
now made itself felt. A third party candidate was nominated 
by the "Greenback party," which stood for the views of the 
Grangers in favor of more paper money. The thing most 

discussed in the 

campaign was the 
alleged disloyalty 
of the South and 
its friends after 
the war was over. 
On the morning 
after election day 
Tilden was cred- 
ited with a plural- 
ity of 250,000, 
and appeared to 
have 203 electoral votes to Hayes's 166. The Republicans, who 
had a majority in the Senate, at once claimed that the legal 
votes in South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Oregon were 
for their candidate, and that the Senate was to supervise the 
count and decide the contest ; the Democratic House insisted 
that the two houses must unite in counting the vote. The 
question was complicated, because in the three disputed 
southern states many Democratic ballots were thrown out by 
Republican "returning boards." On the other hand, the Re- 
publicans were sure that if the negro voters in the South had 
been freely allowed to vote, they would have cast suf&cient 
votes to carry those states for Hayes. 

335. Administration of President Hayes (1877-1881) 

As the inauguration day approached without a settlement 
of the dispute, pubHc excitement ran high. After fierce dis- 
cussion, an act of Congress was passed (January 29, 1877) for 



Administration of President Hayes 521 

a special Electoral Commission of fifteen members, five each to 
be chosen by the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court. 
It was understood that the choice should fall to seven Republi- 
cans, seven Democrats, and one Independent ; but instead of 
the Independent a Republican was chosen. In the deliberations 
of the commission, every one of the disputed questions was 
decided for the Repubhcan contention by a majority of eight 
to seven. The result was that on March 2, Hayes was declared 
elected by 185 electoral votes to 184. 

Before the commission finished its work, Hayes intimated 
that he did not mean to keep federal troops in the South any 
longer; and in a few weeks the soldiers were removed and 
never were sent again. The Democrats continued to hold a 
majority in the House from 1875 to 1881, and controlled the 
Senate from 1879 to 1881. They tried to force the Repubhcan 
President's hand by adding to the army appropriation act a 
"rider" — that is, a clause not necessary for the purpose of 
the act — against the use of federal election supervisors, such 
as was authorized by the anti-Ku-Klux act of 1871 (§ 321). 
The President won by vetoing seven such bills in succession. 
Eventually the rules of the House were so changed as to restrict 
the practice of attaching riders. In 1879, however, an act 
was passed formally forbidding the use of federal troops at the 
poUs. 

From 1878 to 1882 was in general a period of prosperity. The 
high war tariff stood after most of the other taxes were re- 
duced; and the United States had a surplus nearly every 
year, and was buying gold to get ready for the resumption of 
specie payments, which came about almost without incident, 
January i, 1879. John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury, had 
accumulated $140,000,000 in gold to redeem any greenbacks 
that might be presented. When the people knew that they 
could get a hundred cents in gold value for every dollar, they 
preferred the greenbacks. Inasmuch as the paper notes that 
were redeemed were reissued in payment of government ex- 



522 Politics ana Administration 

penses, the amount of greenbacks issued by the Treasury stood 
fast at $346,000,000, and still stands at that figure to-day. 

336. Silver Coinage (1877-1885) 

Just as the country was coming back to a specie basis, the 
question arose, what was specie? Silver sold in London for 
sixty pence an ounce in gold in 1872, and for only fifty-three 
pence in 1878 ; and the silver mine owners of the far West felt 
sure that the act of 1873 demonetizing silver (§ 323) was caus- 
ing the fall in the price of their product. The Greenback 
party (§ 334) cast 1,000,000 votes in the state and congressional 
elections of 1878; and one of their main demands was that the 
United States again coin silver dollars. Meanwhile Mr. Bland, 
a Missouri congressman, introduced a bill which passed over 
Hayes's veto (February, 1878), providing that the United States 
should buy and coin "not less than two million dollars' worth 
[of silver bullion] per month nor more than four milhon dollars' 
worth" into silver dollars at the old ratio of 16 to i. During 
the next twelve years the mint struck 370 million of these "cart 
wheel dollars" — ^ called in jest "the dollar of our daddies." 

The act, however, did not restore the old right which had 
existed from 1792 to 1873, of "free coinage" of silver; that is, 
of exchanging silver bullion at the treasury for its weight in 
silver dollars (§ 140). Free coinage of gold was continued, 
and in effect, therefore, gold remained the single standard of 
money. The silver dollars circulated freely at their face value 
because everybody thought that somehow the government would 
make every "dollar" that it issued good at the best value; and 
in the end their confidence was justified. 

337. Garfield and Arthur (1881-1885) 

In the election of 1880 the Democrats, who had never ceased 
to call Hayes "the fraud President," hoped to be successful 
beyond all dispute. They found a soldier candidate in General 
Winfield S. Hancock, one of the bravest and soundest soldiers 



Garfield and Arthur 523 

of the war. In the Republican convention the leading candi- 
dates were Grant and Blaine, but again as in 1876 (§ 334) a com- 
promise candidate was nominated, General James A. Garfield 
of Ohio, a good soldier and the Repubhcan leader in the 
House. General Hancock seemed hkely to be elected, till he 
wrote a letter in which he said that the tariff was "a. local 
issue." He carried every southern state — the first instance 
of the so-called "sohd South " — and New Jersey, Nevada, and 
California. Though about even with Garfield in the popular 
vote, he received only 155 electoral votes to 214. 

President Garfield soon found himself in a quarrel within his 
own party over the offices ; before he was fairly settled in his 
administration, he was shot by a half-crazed aspirant for ofiice 
and died some weeks later (September 19, 1881). He was suc- 
ceeded by the Vice President, Chester A. Arthur of New York. 

The difficulties and death of Garfield centered public attention 
on the system of political removals introduced in Jackson's 
time (§ 216), by which the subordinate places were distributed 
by favor, usually as a reward for political service. Men were 
constantly being removed to make room for new appointees; 
and it was a regular custom to demand from the government 
employees a certain proportion of their salaries, for the national 
party campaign funds. To meet these abuses. Congress passed 
the Pendleton Civil Service Act (January 16, 1883), under which 
(i) appointments to certain clerkships and other subordinate 
places in the government, commonly called "the classified ser- 
vice," were to be made only on competitive examinations; 
(2) removals for refusal to contribute to a party fund were for- 
bidden ; (3) political assessments by a government official or in 
a government building were prohibited. Arthur began to carry 
out the act in a small way and it is still the law of the land. 

After 1879 rnoney again piled up in the treasury and there 
was a popular demand, in which Garfield shared during his life- 
time, for a reduction of the tariff. The discussion came to a 
head in 1882 and Congress authorized a commission to report 



524 Politics and Administration 

on the tariff — the first case of the kind in our history. They 
presented a bill which was discussed^ revised, and essentially 
altered by Congress so that the final outcome, the tariff of 
1883, reduced duties on some kinds of goods but raised the 
average rate of duty from about 43 per cent to about 45 per cent. 
It left unsettled the main issue of whether the Repubhcan party 
would make high protection a political issue. 

338. Public Interest in Latin America (1875-1885) 

After the settlement of the Alabama claims (§ 324) several 
serious questions of foreign policy arose in Latin America. 
President Grant threatened in 1875 to call on the great European 
powers to unite with us in intervention in Cuba; and under 
this pressure Spain made peace with the Cubans in 1878. The 
colonial government was continued, but negro slavery was abol- 
ished in Cuba ; but as a participant in the rebellion afterward 
said, "We went to work to save money for another revolution." 

The old question of an isthmian canal (§ 233) arose in a new 
form when in 1878 the government of Colombia granted a "con- 
cession" to a French company to construct a canal across the 
Isthmus of Panama. The leading spirit was Ferdinand de 
Lesseps, an engineer who had recently constructed the Suez 
Canal, and who had the confidence of French investors. He 
designed a tide-level canal through a divide about 300 feet high ; 
and the company at once began to raise money. Vainly did 
President Hayes try to arouse the people of the United States 
to a sense of danger at the prospect of a canal to be controlled 
by Europeans. In a message to Congress (1880) he said that 
such a canal would be a great ocean thoroughfare between our 
Atlantic and our Pacific shores, and "virtually a part of the 
coast line of the United States." Neither Congress nor the 
people at large took alarm; they were willing to wait and see 
what the French could accomplish. 

From March to December, 1881, James G. Blaine was Secre- 
tary of State under Presidents Garfield and Arthur. In those 



Change of Political Issues 525 

few months he attempted to found an American policy which 
should bring about three desirable things: leadership among 
the American states, trade reciprocity with those states, and 
an isthmian canal under the control of the United States. 

(i) Blaine was struck by the losses and confusion caused by 
the wars among the Latin American powers. War broke out 
between Peru and Chile in 1879. After an exhausting strug- 
gle, when the Peruvians were at the mercy of Chile, Blaine 
instructed our ministers to Peru and Chile (1881) to use their 
influence to soften the demands of the conquerors. The min- 
isters went beyond their instructions, and threatened Chile, 
which paid no heed to their suggestions. The other Latin 
American states were much disturbed at what they thought a 
spirit of meddling with their concerns. 

(2) Blaine believed that it was for the interest both of the 
United States and of the countries south of us to build up 
mutual trade by special "reciprocity treaties," reducing the 
tariff duties on both sides ; but he could not persuade Congress 
to heed his policy of pushing trade with Latin America. 

(3) Blaine was very anxious to make it clear that the Panama 
Canal was the special concern of the United States ; and he 
tried to get rid of the troublesome Clayton-Bulwer treaty 
(§ 233). Great Britain simply stood by the treaty and he made 
no progress. A private company was formed in New York 
(1884) to build a rival canal by the Nicaragua route, and made 
some prehminary surveys. The French Panama Canal Com- 
pany was at work from 1881 to 1889; but after spending 
$100,000,000 on the canal and $160,000,000 more on salaries, 
commissions, interest, and nobody knew what else, the com- 
pany failed (December, 1888) and the work was suspended. 

339. Change of Political Issues (1881-1885) 

Hayes's withdrawal of the troops in the South (§ 335) was 
an admission that the era of force was over. The presidential 
election of 1884 marks the time when the two national parties 



526 Politics and Administration 

at last gave up the outworn issues of the Civil War and re- 
construction, and began to divide on the pressing questions of 
revenue, expenditure, currency, trusts, and especially the 
protective tariff. The Republican candidate was at last 
James G. Blaine (§§ 337, 338), an able man who had many 
enemies in his own party. The Democrats put up Grover 
Cleveland, who had come to the front by triumphantly carrying 
New York in a campaign for the governorship. 

The campaign abounded in fierce personalities. Blaine's 
enemies secured and published certain "Mulligan Letters," 
which, they considered, showed that he had used his office of 
Speaker for the private advantage of himself and his friends. 
Cleveland was supported not only by his own party, but also by 
the "Mugwumps," or independent RepubHcans, who expected 
him to stand for purer politics. 

Without the vote of New York, Cleveland could not be elected, 
but in that state he had a plurality of 1149, in a total vote of 
1,167,000. This with Indiana, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the 
"solid South" gave 219 electoral votes against 182 for Blaine. 

As Cleveland was the first Democratic President since Bu- 
chanan, his election seemed to his opponents a revolution, and 
it was freely predicted that he would pay off the Confederate 
debt or even reduce the negroes again to slavery. He was a 
resolute President who vetoed 301 bills, and followed Grant in 
defeating many private bills; but the Republicans held a 
majority in the Senate, and the President could do little to 
secure legislation to carry out the purposes of his party. 

340. Cleveland's First Administration (1885-1889) 

As President, Cleveland showed a rugged will and a strong 
sense of public duty. Great pressure was put on him to remove 
the Republicans who held pubHc office. He poured out his 
wrath upon those who were guilty of "offensive partisanship " — 
that is, who used their offices in behalf of their party — and he 
removed many of them ; but he stood by Arthur's " classified 



Cleveland's First Administration 



527 



V J 


r 1 


i i 


b 1 




■hi^ ^ ,^IhH^^^^^^H 




^^^ 




■m 



list" (§ 337) and added 
many others to this cate- 
gory of pubhc officers, who 
under the Pendleton Law 
were appointed on com- 
petitive examination. 

Cleveland was much 
concerned by the extrava- 
gance of Congress, which 
voted large sums for pub- 
lic buildings, river and 
harbor improvements, and 
pension bills. This last 
outgo was partly in conse- 
quence of promises made 

to the soldiers during the 

„..,,-. .1 . ,1 CjROver Cleveland, about 1890. 

Civil War — that they 

and their families should not suffer want because of their serv- 
ice. Pensions were liberally voted to the widows and minor 
children of soldiers killed, and to the living veterans suffering 
from permanent wounds or disability contracted in the service, 
if they needed help. In addition Congress passed hundreds of 
bills, some of them over the President's veto, granting pensions 
to men and women who were not entitled to them under the 
general law; in 1889 the pensioners numbered 490,000 and 
drew $89,000,000 a year. A Dependent Pension Bill passed 
both houses (January 31, 1887), granting a pension to every 
survivor of those who had served in the war, if not able to 
support himself by physical labor. Cleveland vetoed it on 
the ground that there was no public need for pensioning men 
who had means or could be supported by their children. 

The lavishness of Congress was caused partly by the surplus 
of revenue over current expenses. Of course there was an 
immense unpaid debt, to which the surplus might go, but it 
was not easy to call in bonds before they were due. A further 



528 Politics and Administration 

reason for the surplus was the heavy proceeds of the high tariff 
of 1883 (§ 337). If the tariff were reduced, the surplus would 
disappear. President Cleveland set the political issue for the 
campaign of 1888 in his annual message of 1887, in which he 
discussed only the tariff: "It is a condition which confronts 
us — not a theory," said he. The "condition" was the annual 
surplus which, in 1887, reached $56,000,000. 

341. Harrison and the Tariff (i 888-1 890) 

The Republicans accepted this challenge and for the presi- 
dential election of 1888 nominated Benjamin Harrison, who had 
been senator from Indiana. For the first time the Republicans 
in their platform declared that high protection was a party 
principle. The Democratic convention unanimously renom- 
inated Cleveland. By a plurality of 13,002 votes in New York, 
Harrison carried that state, and thus secured 233 electoral votes 
to 168, and was elected; though the Cleveland men cast about 
100,000 more popular votes than the supporters of Harrison, in 
the whole country. 

The first Congress under Harrison had a Republican majority 
in both houses, and began in 1890 to vote money still more 
freely than before for public buildings in small cities, for money 
subsidies in aid of American ships, and for dependent pensions. 
The outgo for pensions jumped up to an average of $140,000,000 
a year. A new navy was already begun, and in 1893 the country 
possessed a "white squadron" of steel armed cruisers. 

In accordance with the Republican platform of 1888, a new 
tariff was drawn up by the Committee of Ways and Means, of 
which William McKinley was chairman; and the bill took its 
name from him. The Republicans argued the necessity of pro- 
tecting American manufacturers and laborers from foreign com- 
petition, and of reserving "the home market" for American 
producers; the Democrats contended that the tariff kept up 
the prices to the consumer of protected products, was class 
legislation, and brought in an unnecessary and dangerous sur- 



Blame's Foreign Policy 529 

plus. The tarifif of 1883 on dutiable goods averaged about 
45 per cent; the McKinley tariff (October i, 1890) raised it 
to about 49 per cent; but the non-dutiable "free Ust" was 
larger in the McKinley bill than in the previous tariff. 

342. Blaine's Foreign Policy (1889-1892) 

Harrison was not a leader. The strong man in his adminis- 
tration was James G. Blaine (§ 339), who again became Secre- 
tary of State. Blaine was born in Pennsylvania in 1830, settled 
in Maine, went to Congress in 1863, was Speaker from 1869 to 
1875, and then senator from Maine. He was always a strong 
partisan, believed in his own side, and hated and attacked his 
political opponents. He was an effective debater, but made 
many enemies by saying bitter things — as when he called 
Senator Conkling of New York "a turkey cock." Blaine has 
often been compared with Henry Clay, whom he much resembled 
in his strong assertion of the rights of America, his power of 
making personal friends, and his long and unsuccessful ambition 
to be President ; but he was too quick and aggressive to be a 
good diplomat. Blaine resigned in 1892, and died not long 
after, a disappointed man. 

In 1890 he took the lead in a Pan-American Congress at 
Washington, which recommended a Pan-American bank, a Pan- 
American railroad, and commercial reciprocity treaties. Blaine 
agreed with our Latin American neighbors, but the Senate would 
not back him. The difficulty of keeping on good terms with these 
neighbors was shown by a dispute with Chile in 1891. Some of 
the men of the United States ship Baltimore were attacked on 
the streets of Valparaiso and one was killed. As a suitable 
apology was not made. President Harrison sent a message to 
Congress suggesting war; but on the same day the long-de- 
layed apology came, and hostilities were avoided. 

Blaine was involved in another dispute which required several 
years to settle. The United States had for some years claimed 
the right to seize Canadian vessels which took seals in the open 
hart's new amer. hist. — 33 



530 



Politics and Administration 



sea near Alaska. Blaine insisted that the Bering Sea belonged 
to the United States as a part of the Alaska purchase (§ 319). 
In 1893 the controversy was settled by a board of arbitration 
in Paris, which decided against the United States. 

343. Free Silver and the Tariff (i 890-1 894) 
Frequent debates on the trusts, railroads, and banks and on the 
tariff brought out the fact that the South and West felt — with 




Comparative Value of the Gold, Silver, and Copper Mined in the 
United States from 1870 to 1900. 

some reason — that they received less than their share of the re- 
sults of the nation's prosperity. Hence the formation (1887) of a 
political Farmers' AUiance, which carried the stanch Republican 
states of Kansas and Nebraska ; and a National People's party 
was soon formed (May, 1891). The silver-producing states — 
Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada — joined 
the movement, because the price of their product went down 
from 89 cents in gold, for the weight of a standard silver dollar 
in 1878, to 73 cents in 1889, and 67 cents in 1892. 

The combination showed its strength in 1890 by introducing 
a bill for the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to i ; this 
would have enabled owners of silver buUion to turn it into legal 
tender silver dollars. To head off this bill. Congress passed 
the Sherman Silver Act (July 14, 1890), which provided that the 
Secretary of the Treasury should buy 4,500,000 ounces of silver 
buUion each month at the market price, paying for it in a new 
kind of paper notes. Thus a market was given to the silver 
producers, and the currency was increased to satisfy the West 
and South. 



Free Silver and the Tariff 



531 




Election of i 



Under the Mc- 
Kinley tariff the 
prices of silk, 
woolen, and cot- 
ton goods of every 
kind suddenly 
rose, and thus 
brought its effect 
home to thou- 
sands of buyers. 
Hence the Demo- 
crats went hope- 
fully into the campaign of 1892, on the tariff issue, and again 
nominated Cleveland, who won a sweeping victory. He had 
277 electoral votes to 145 for Harrison and 22 for a People's 
party candidate ; his popular plurality was 380,000 and his 
party elected a majority in both the House and the Senate 
which would sit in 1893-1895. This was the first Congress 
since 1859 that was Democratic in both houses. 

When Cleveland was a second time inaugurated (March 4, 
1893) a severe commercial crisis was impending. A general 
crash was prevented only by the banks standing by one another. 
As always happens in hard times, the tariff revenues fell off; 
the expenses of the government increased, and the gold in the 
treasury ran down till it looked as if the holders of greenbacks 
would make a run on the treasury by demanding redemption 
in gold. Congress reluctantly listened to President Cleveland, 
and (November i, 1893) stopped the silver purchases under the 
Sherman Act. It took several years to return to prosperity. 

The Democrats kept their campaign promise of making a new 
tariff, which was framed in 1894 by William L. Wilson, chair- 
man of the Ways and Means Committee. The Senate added 
so many protective duties that the President would not sign the 
bill, but let it become an act without his signature. The act 
included an income tax which of course bore hardest on the 



532 Politics and Administration 

wealthy eastern and middle states. On a test case, the Su- 
preme Court decided (May, 1895) that the tax as levied was 
unconstitutional because it was a direct tax not distributed in 
proportion to the population of the states (see Constitution, 
Article I, Section 2, Clause 3). A revenue of about $40,000,000 
a year was thus cut off. The customs dropped so that there 
was a deficit amounting to $70,000,000, and for several years 
similar deficits followed. The public debt slowly increased, 
and the government was for a time in financial straits. 

344. End or Cleveland's Administration (1895-1897) 

The Democratic party was badly split by the controversy o\er 
free silver (§ 343), and when President Cleveland insisted on 
stopping the silver purchases, a considerable part of the western 
and southern Democrats accused him of being a "gold bug." 
Some of the Democrats, especially in Pennsylvania and a few 
states of the South, were in favor of protection. During the 
last two years of his administration, therefore, Cleveland was 
no longer recognized as the great Democratic leader. 

He showed his characteristic toughness of fiber by taking up 
a long-standing boundary controversy between Venezuela and 
the British colony of Guiana. His Secretary of State, Richard 
Olney, served notice upon Great Britain that the refusal of 
that country to arbitrate on this question was an attempt to 
control part of an American state, and hence contrary to the 
Monroe Doctrine. "To-day the United States," said Olney, 
"is practically sovereign on this continent, and its fiat is law 
upon the subjects to which it- confines its interposition." The 
President made this correspondence public in an unexpected 
message (December, 1895) and threatened war if Great Britain 
did not yield. The British government was taken aback by 
this sudden interest in a dispute which seemed far removed from 
any danger to the United States ; but on reflection it yielded and 
accepted arbitration. The arbitrators decided (1899) that 
Great Britain was entitled to most of the territory in dispute. 



534 



Politics and Administration 




cm Republican 
fnn Peioooratio 
yumbtffi iaiilcate Electoral 



Election of 1896. 



Meantime the election of 1896 drew near. The Democrats 
were sharply divided on the silver question. Their regular 

convention (July, 
1896) declared for 
the free coinage of 
silver at the ratio 
of 16 to I (§ 336), 
and nominated 
William J. Bryan 
of Nebraska, who 
came suddenly to 
the front in the 
convention as a re- 
markable speaker 
and leader. The People's party (§ 343), which included many 
former Republicans, also supported Bryan for President on a 
separate ticket. A fraction of the Democratic party organized 
as "Sound Money Democrats" and made an opposing nomina- 
tion. In the Repubhcan nominating convention, William 
McKinley of Ohio was the logical candidate because of his 
attractive personality and his service as a champion of protec- 
tion. The platform declared against the free coinage of silver 
unless the principal nations of the world would agree to it. 

In the campaign of 1896 the principal issue was free coinage, 
for the low prices of silver, wheat, and cotton had kept the West 
and South poor. But wheat suddenly rose in price and some 
of the western farming states went over to McKinley, together 
with four southern states. He was elected by a plurality vote 
of 600,000 and 271 electoral votes to 176. So far as could be 
judged from this election, a considerable majority of the voters 
wished high protection and were against free coinage of silver. 

345. Review 

The Republicans nearly lost their hold on the national govern- 
ment in the election of 1876. Disputed returns were settled 



Review 535 

by a special electoral commission and the Republican candidate 
was declared elected by 185 electoral votes to 184. Hayes 
had a long fight with Congress over conditions in the South. 
In 1878 the mine owners and other "friends of silver" forced 
Congress to resume the coinage of silver, though gold remained 
the standard. 

General Garfield was elected President over Hancock in 1880 
but was assassinated in 1881. Under his successor, Arthur, 
Congress passed an act for improving the Civil Service, and the 
tarifif of 1882 was passed. 

Secretary Blaine tried to make the United States the leader 
among the Latin American powers and to secure control of the 
Isthmian Canal. 

In 1884, Grover Cleveland was elected President, the first 
Democrat since 1861. He stood by the reform of the Civil 
Service, and opposed enlarging the expenditures for pensions 
and other drafts on the treasury. He made an issue of the tariff, 
and on that issue was narrowly defeated in the election of 1888 
by Harrison. The Republicans then passed the more highly 
protective McKinley tariff of 1890. Blaine again became Secre- 
tary of State and, without much effect, urged friendship and 
an understanding with the Latin American states. The steady 
fall of silver caused a continuation of the silver agitation ; and 
by the Sherman Act of 1890 Congress ordered the buying of 
more silver for coinage by the government. 

Cleveland was reelected President in 1892, and the commercial 
panic of 1893 compelled the stopping of the silver purchases. 
In 1894 a moderately protective tariff was passed by the Demo- 
crats. In his second term, Cleveland quarreled with Great 
Britain over a question of Venezuelan boundary. WilHam J. 
Bryan, a free silverite, was the Democratic candidate in 1896, 
and was defeated by William McKinley of Ohio. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 
Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 520, 531, 534, 566. Bogart, 
Econ. Hist., 395. — Coman, Indust. Hist., 338. — Dewey, Nat. Prob- 



536 Politics and Administration 

lems. — Dunning, Reconstruction, 310. — Paxson, New Nation, 76, 77, 
186, 227. 

Secondary. Bassett, f/. 5., 652-817 passim. — Beard, Contemp. Am. 
Hist., chs. iv-vii. — Burton, John Sherman, chs. xii-xvi. — Carpenter, 
America in Hawaii, chs. xi-xv. — ■'Dewey, Finan. Hist., §§ 159-161, 171- 
196; Nat. Problems, chs. ii, iv, v, vii-xi, xiii-xvii. — Dunning, Recon- 
struction, chs. xix-xxi. — Fish, Am. Diplomacy, chs. xxvi-xxviii. — Hart, 
Monroe Doctrine, 169-206. — Haworth, Disputed Election; Reconstruc- 
tion and Union, 72-174. — -Johnson, Panama Canal, chs. vi, vii. — 
McCall, T. B. Reed, chs. vi-xix. — Paxson, New Nation, 80-256 passim. 
— Rhodes, U.S., VII. 194-291. — Sparks, Nat. Development, chs. vi- 
xix. — Stanwood, Am. Tarif Controversies, II. 192-394; J. G. Blaine, 
chs. vii-xii ; Presidency, I. chs. xxv-xxxi. — Taussig, Tarif Hist., 230- 
^09. — Williams, R. B. Hayes, I. chs. xxiv-xxvi, II. chs. xxvii-xxxviii. 
■ — Wilson, Am. People, V. 104-204. — Woodburn, Polit. Parties, chs. 
viii, xviii, xix. 

Sources. Am. Hist. Leaflets, nos. 6, 34. — Appletons' Annual 
Cyclopcedia, 1876 to 1897. — Beard, Readings, §§42-44, 83-87.— 
Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 711-763. — Hart, Contemporaries, 
IV. §§ 158-173; Source Book, §§ 133-140. — MacDonald, Select Stat- 
utes, nos. 96-98, 100-105, 108, 109, 111-113, 121-123, 125, 126. 

Illustrative. Anon., Democracy. — Atherton, Senator North. — 
Burnett, Through One Administration. — Ford, Honorable Peter Stirling. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Public services of one of the following: Blaine; Hayes; Tilden ; 
Arthur; Cleveland; Harrison; Sherman. [§ 334] — (2) Election of 
1876 [§ 334], or of 1880 [§ 337], or of 1884. [§ 339] — (3) Debates on the 
Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883, or the tariff of 1883 [§ 337], or the 
Tariff of 1890. [§ 341] — (4) First Cuban War. [§ 338] — (5) Vetoes by 
President Cleveland. [§ 340] — (6) Pan-American Congress of 1890. 
[§ 342] — (7) National People's party. [§ 343] — (8) Debates on the 
Sherman Silver Act, or the tariff of 1894. [§ 343] — (q) Public services 
of one of the following statesmen: Olney; Bryan; McKinley. [§ 344] 

Topics for Further Search 

(10) Effects of the Centennial Exposition. [§ 334] — (u) Patrons of 
Husbandry. [§ 334] — (12) Electoral commission of 1877. [§ 335) — 
(13) What was meant by free coinage? [§ 336] — (14) System of miHtary 
pensions. [§ 340] — (15) Claim to part of Bering Sea. [§ 342] — (16) Con- 
troversy over Venezuela. [§ 344] 



CHAPTER XXXI 
REGULATION OF BUSINESS (1885-1895) 

346. Population in 1890 

By the year 1885, the economie effects of the Civil War had 
almost disappeared. The South (as will be shown in a later 
chapter) was more prosperous than ever before, and an immense 
new area had been opened up beyond the Mississippi. The 
population of the country, as shown by the census of 1890, had 
increased in a hundred years from 3,900,000 to 62,600,000, 
which showed that the population had almost precisely doubled 
in every period of twenty-five years. Both the older and the 
newer parts of the country shared in this remarkable growth. 
New England and the middle states had 17,500,000 people, the 
South had 22,300,000, and the great block of states from Ohio to 
Kansas had 19,600,000. Of the total about 7,000,000 were 
negroes, mostly living in the southern states; and 10,000,000 
were immigrants, most of whom were in the northern states. 
More than one fourth of all the people, especially in the northern 
states, lived in cities and towns. 

This rapid growth of population could hardly be paralleled 
in the history of the world. It was possible for two reasons. 
The first was the natural increase of families in regions where 
there was so much wild land and so much demand for labor. 
The other was the foreign immigration, which sprang up again on 
a large scale before the Civil War was fairly over. From 1861 
to 1870, 2,300,000 immigrants arrived; from 1871 to 1880, 
2,800,000 ; from 1881 to 1890, 5,200,000. (See page 362.) They 
helped to make up the rapid growth of the whole population. 

537 



538 Regulation of Business 

As in the earlier period of immigration, the newcomers helped 
to build up the cities. The Irish and Germans and their de- 
scendants formed a large fraction of the populations of the 
coast cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore ; 
and were almost as numerous in proportion in the interior cities 
that were now growing up, such as the five Lake cities of Buffalo, 
Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago, and the seven 
large northern river cities, St. Paul and MinneapoHs, St. Louis, 
Cincinnati, Louisville, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. The 
one large southern city was New Orleans. On the Pacific 
coast, San Francisco was still the only considerable city, but 
the beginnings of great ports appeared at various points along 
the Pacific coast ; and Salt Lake City and Denver grew up in 
the interior. 

347. American Cities (1865-1895) 

Throughout the Union, villages were expanding into towns; 
towns into cities ; small cities into great cities. The building 

and the government 
of these new centers of 
population were out- 
side the previous ex- 
perience of Americans 
born in this country, 
and the greater part 
of the immigrants had 
been tillers of the soil 
in their own country, 
and could contribute 
little to the problems 
of city government, 
while they added very 
much to the diffi- 
culties of taking care 
"The Point," Pittsburgh. of the population. 




American Cities 



539 



All the cities were perplexed by the presence of masses of 
people who were not born within their limits, nor even within 
the state in which the city was situated. A constant stream 
poured from the farming districts into the cities, furnishing 
thousands of capable citizens, but it took them a long time to 
learn how to care for the welfare of their communities. 

Few of the cities foresaw their own growth, and nearly all 
were badly planned. The example of Philadelphia in laying 
out the streets in a gridiron of squares with few or no diagonal 
thoroughfares was followed in most of the new places, such as 
Buffalo, Chicago, and St. Louis. Even in San Francisco, with 
its hilly site, the streets were laid out on the same inconvenient 
plan. The railroads were allowed to enter the cities on the same 
grade as the streets, and in many cases ran right through the 
middle of the thoroughfares ; as their business grew, they greatly 
interfered with the city traffic. 

The stone pavements were ragged and uneven, and many of 
the western cities laid down pavements of wooden blocks, which 
rapidly wore out. Most of the cities were dirty and slovenly, and 
no city till about 1890 
was regularly and sys- 
tematically cleaned. 
Few were provided 
with sufficient sewers 
and an abundant water 
supply. In the rich 
city of Philadelphia, 
many houses still 
turned their waste into 
the city by surface drainage. Horse cars had long been run- 
ning in many cities and the lines were extended to carry people 
into the suburbs. The growth of the cities led to rapid 
changes in the centers of business, so that old wholesale streets 
were abandoned, and old residential quarters were invaded 
by business buildings. Most cities were proud of fine resi- 




A Double-deck Horse Car, about 1875. 



540 Regulation of Business 

dence streets such as Euclid Avenue in Cleveland and Michigan 
Avenue in Chicago, with their handsome houses and broad 
and beautiful grounds ; but the coal smoke brought dirt and 
grime even in the best quarters. 

The city governments never caught up with their immense 
tasks. From 1868 to 1871 a terrible object lesson was given 

to the whole country 
as to what might hap- 
pen in the richest cities 
whenever a set of 
thieves managed to 
get hold of the machin- 
ery of the city govern- 
ment. A gang arose in 
New York known as the 
"Tweed Ring," headed 
by " Boss Tweed," a 
bad character who be- 
gan life as a fighting 
fireman and managed 
to worm himself into 
the government of 
the county and city of 
New York. They sys- 
tematically plundered 
that great city out 
of about $100,000,000. 
These official criminals 
controlled and falsified 
the count of the votes, 
so that it seemed impossible to turn them out of office. Two 
of the newspapers of the time fought the bandits, notwithstand- 
ing big offers if they would hold their peace. George Jones, 
proprietor of the New York Times, belabored them in his pape^ 
and Thomas Nast, one of the first cartoonists in the country, 




Waiting for the Storm to Blow Over. 
(Cartoon by Thomas Nast. The largest vul- 
ture represents Boss Tweed.) 



Corporations and Trusts 541 

from week to week pictured the thieves in Harper's Weekly. 
Samuel J. Tilden, a democratic leader in the city and state 
(later candidate for President, § 334), took the field against 
them, organized a poHtical movement, and by a desperate effort 
the property owners and voters in New York recovered con- 
trol of their own city. The ring was broken up, the con- 
spirators scattered, and Tweed was sent to prison. 

Other cities, especially Philadelphia, suffered from similar or- 
ganized plundering. The trouble was that the city governments 
were not efficient for their purpose. The mayors were, by this 
time, nearly all elected by popular vote and there were regular 
police departments, fire departments, and school departments; 
but there were too many officials over whom the mayor had no 
control, the city councils were badly organized, most of them in 
two parts which quarreled with each other. There was not a 
single city in the land that had a city government strong and 
wise enough to take charge of the activities that were rapidly 
increasing. They allowed mean slums to grow up. They 
fell behind on their schools. They all ran into debt. 

348. Corporations and Trusts 

The defects in city government, and also the defects in state, 
county, and village government, were the more amazing because 
American business men showed such remarkable skill in or- 
ganizing great business concerns. They found no danger in 
putting the control of great private enterprises into the hands 
of men who showed the greatest abihty and skill. Yet in their 
governments they made little effort to reap the benefits of do- 
ing things on a big scale by strong men. The most striking 
feature of this time was the growth of corporations and the de- 
velopment of the very large and powerful corporations which 
came to be called trusts. 

This system of corporations, which grew steadily from the 
time of the first United States Bank (§ 141), proved to be well 
suited for the conditions of the immense business which was 



542 Regulation of Business 

developing in the United States. With the exception of na- 
tional banks, corporations which carried on business in the 
District of Columbia, and some of the Pacific railroads. Con- 
gress chartered none of these companies. As early as 1820 
some of the states provided a system of general laws, under 
which those who wished to form a company could do so without 
going to the legislature for a special charter. 

Business corporations of all kinds enjoyed several valuable 
privileges : (i) They had the right to hold property and use 
it for their purposes, like individuals and firms. This included 
the important right to carry on business in other states than 
that in which they were chartered. (2) They could sue and be 
sued just as if they were persons. (3) The stockholders were 
not liable for -the debts of the corporation, except to the amount 
of their own holdings in the corporation, and in some states, 
a fixed proportion beyond that. (4) Corporations could be 
stockholders and managers in other corporations, and that made 
it easy to roll up great businesses and large capital. (5) Under' 
an early decision of the United States Supreme Court, the charter 
of a company was considered a "contract," which could not 
be repealed or otherwise impaired by the state which had granted 
it (Constitution, Article i. Section 10, Clause i). To meet that 
difiiculty many of the states passed laws providing that charters 
thereafter granted should contain a clause making them sub- 
ject to repeal. In addition any charters could be taken away by 
the courts, if it could be shown that they were misused by the 
companies that held them ; but that was a difficult and expen- 
sive process. The great advantages of corporations have been 
discussed elsewhere (§§ 141, 248, 330). They enabled the small 
investor to place his money under guidance of able business 
men ; they could do business freely all over the Union ; they 
relieved the stockholder from the risk of losing his all. 

Till after the Civil War, the state and national governments 
paid little attention to the corporations, except the railroads. 
These companies were very powerful in some communities. 



Public Control of Railroads 543 

As an example, humorists used to call New Jersey "the State 
of Camden and Amboy," referring to a railroad that crossed 
the state. In the sixties, the states began to set up railroad 
commissions — executive bodies which made rules for the 
operation of the roads, and in some cases fixed the rates; and 
about that time the country woke up to the fact that some other 
corporations were becoming so powerful that they threatened 
to override the rest of the community, (i) A corporation might 
be so rich and powerful that it simply ignored the laws intended 
to regulate it. (2) The corporation, though acting within 
the law, might acquire a monopoly of some line of business, 
and thus extinguish competition. (3) One corporation might 
own another corporation, and mix up the accounts of the con- 
cerns, often to the disadvantage of the small owners of stocks, 
as in the case of certain steamship companies. (4) To float 
new enterprises, great bankers and capitalists sometimes formed 
"syndicates" with secret and complicated interests and obli- 
gations. (5) Occasionally several corporations, instead of com- 
bining, made an agreement that the stock of all the corporations 
should be held and voted "in trust" by a body of trustees. 
Only in the last case should the term "trust," strictly speak- 
ing, be applied ; but the name was loosely used for any 
large corporation or combination of corporations which tried 
to control a large line of business. A very common form of 
"trust" was a company or group of companies which con- 
trolled some public service, such as water, gas, or traction. 
Such a group of men might hold a city or state at its mercy. 

349. Public Control of Railroads 

The great corporations most in the public eye down to 1885 
were still the railroad companies. Railway kings like William 
H. Vanderbilt of the New York Central, Jay Gould of the Erie, 
Edgar Thomson of the Pennsylvania, and C. P. Huntington 
of the Southern Pacific, performed a public service by consoli- 
dating small roads into systems thousands of miles in extent, 



544 Regulation of Business 

especially eight or nine "trunk lines" from Chicago to New 
York, and the Southern Pacific transcontinental routes. The 
only public control regulating the railroads was that of the 
state governments, which passed acts on the speed of trains, 
frequency of stops, and other working details, and also tried 
to reduce rates for passengers and freight. The states, how- 
ever, had no legal control over traffic passing from one state to 
another, for "interstate commerce" was, by the text of the Con- 
stitution, subject only to the control of the federal government. 
By ancient principles of the common law of England, which 
were applied in most states, a "common carrier" is obliged 
to accept on equal terms any passengers and freight that offer. 
This is only fair, inasmuch as the railroads have many valuable 
privileges, such as the right to condemn and purchase private 
property necessary for their roadbed. Nevertheless, the rail- 
roads, especially the big ones, looked upon their service as a 
private business which they could control as they hked. Hence 
they fell into the habit of making discriminations between ship- 
pers: (i) They gave special — often secret — rates to large 
shippers and favored friends. (2) They charged higher freights 
for a shorter distance — say from Chicago to Pittsburgh — 
than for a longer distance on the same route — say from Chi- 
cago to New York. (3) They formed "pools" or agreements 




J1.TXIES AT THR AluLiii uF T1U-; Mi.s^issii'Pi Rivi:k, 



Regulation of Railroads by Congress 545 

by which all the freight offered was arbitrarily divided among 
competing roads. 

One reason why the federal government for many years 
let the railroads alone was that it was putting its energy and 
money on waterways. Every year or two after 1870 a river 
and harbor bill passed Congress, containing appropriations for 
sea and lake harbors and for improving rivers, many of which 
were of small account. Congress spent large sums on the Missis- 
sippi River and Great Lakes. In 1879 Captain Eads built 
a system of jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi, which made 
New Orleans a deep-sea harbor. For the enormous Lake trade 
in iron ore, coal, grain, and lumber, the government built 




Locks of the " Soo " (Sault Ste. Marie) Canal, Completed in 1896. 

ship canals between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, around 
the falls of Sault Ste. Marie, and through St. Clair Lake and the 
Detroit River. 



350. Regulation of Railroads by Congress (18S7-1890) 

Eventually public sentiment, headed by Senator CuUom of 
Illinois, forced Congress to pass the '' Interstate Commerce 
Act" (February 4, 1887) regulating commerce between the 



546 



RrT^Mil.il ion of BiisiiU'SS 



si'ilcs, on (lie lolldwiii); piiiiciplfs : (i) Kailroiuls opiTiiliii;^ in 
more lliaii one shilc vvi'ii' loihiddcn lo laakc a liiglicr cIki't^c to 
one cuslonu'r llian to anollicr for tlu' sarnc scivici'. (2) Tlu-y 
Wfic lorliitldcii lo lorm "pools." (■;) All fri-i^iit rates wrrc 
to he piil)ii( Iv poslcd and could he lUMllicr raised nor lowered 
wiliioiil no! ice. {.]) Unreasonable rales could he re\ie\ve<l by 
tile ( iinmiission. {^) Hy I lie "sliorl haul (lause," no railroad 
could char).;e more for carryinj^ freight a shorter distance than 
it char^^ed for carryin)^ freij^ht oxer the same line to a greater 
distance. ((>) The roads were olili!;ed lo make sworn reixuts 
of their business lo the goxcrnnu'nl . 

How should these new and drastic regulalions In' larrii'd out ? 
Ollu-r acts ol ( 'ongress, such as the land laws, wen- put into 
action b\' oIIk iais whose diilies and powers were clearly set 
forth b\' slaliile. The oidinary criminal laws were made 
elletlixf b\' suils brou}';hl belore llie louiis. Here was a new 
piH)blem, for il was absolutely neci'ssary to pro\ide a body of 
nu'n e.xperl in railrcvid alTairs, to decide what was, and wliat was 
not, reasonable in railroad business. .At the same time it was 
iieci'ssary lo (icah' something like a. court, which could hear 
complaints and make di'cisions, such as the reguhir courts had 
bi'cii makiii!',. 

Congress soUed this now prol>lem by creating a new kind of 
agency for the federal gON'ernment , following tin- example of 
some of Ihe stale railroad commissions. Il ireated Ihe Inler- 
slali' Commerce Commission of li\i' members. 'This powerlul 
body, which was to control the- railroads for the government, 
was nol allached lo any ol" the great deparlmenis such as that 
of Justice, 01 of the Interior. It was responsible only to Con- 
gress. On the other hand, though the commissioners could 
hold com I and evamine witnesses and make legal decisions, 
they were subject lo appc-als to Ihe regular United States 
courts on many points. 

Hence the Inlerslate Commerce Commission was obliged 
10 go slowb' and a.sk Congress for amendments to the Inter- 



Regulation of Trusts by Congress 547 

state Commerce Law from time to time. Congress gradually 
increased the powers of the commission, limited the right of 
appeal to the ordinary courts, and passed several additional 
statutes on railroad business. For instance, by the so-called 
"Original Package Law" (1890) Congress made it possible to 
prevent the carrying of liquor into states which prohibited 
the sale of it. By the statute of 1893, the railroads were com- 
pelled to adopt and use a uniform car coupler, so as to eliminate 
the numerous accidents from the old method. The very im- 
portant act of 1895 forbade the carrying of mail or express 
matter by the United States Post Office or by express com- 
panies if intended for lotteries or gift concerns. Congress also 
(1899) made a settlement with those Pacific roads (§ 329) 
which had received money aid from the government. In 1899 
they owed $64,000,000 on original bonds and $72,000,000 of 
interest paid by the United States. Rather reluctantly, the 
roads finally repaid nearly the whole of this great sum to the 
government. 

351. Regulation of Trusts by Congress (1890) 

The success of the Interstate Commerce Act led Congress 
to try its hand at regulating large corporations, for up to this 
time the only way of dealing with corporations was by state 
laws. Many such laws proved successful for business carried 
on wholly within the limits of one state. Public commissions 
were set up to regulate gas, electric light, and water companies 
and to control street car companies and other so-called "public 
utihties" which were serving great numbers of persons. Com- 
missions or commissioners were also appointed to regulate in' 
surance, banking, and other sorts of private business. In many 
cases, the price for lights and for carrying passengers by city 
transit systems was fixed by law. Even railroad passenger 
fares were established in many states at so many cents a mile. 

Popular feeling was such that Congress, by the so-called 
"Sherman Antitrust Law" (July 2, 1890) extended some of 
hart's new amer. msT. — 34 



548 Regulation of Business 

the principles of the Interstate Commerce Act to all corpora- 
tions which carried on a business from state to state or from the 
United States to a foreign country. The act provided that 
any attempt by such corporations to "monopoHze" any hne 
of business should be punishable by both criminal and civil 
suits. This applied to manufacturing and trading companies 
and also to railroads ; and the law made no distinction between 
cases where such combinations "in restraint of trade" were 
hurtful to the public, and those cases where the merger of 
business concerns and the joint action of corporations were an 
advantage to the community. "Good corporations" and "bad 
corporations" were both forbidden to combine so as to secure 
a monopoly. 

One method of bringing corporations to book was to compel 
them by law to keep their accounts on a uniform system. An- 
other way was by taxes, which required them to pay for their 
privileges and also to reveal the amount and profit of their 
business. In New York, as in other states also, many of the 
traction companies received from the cities without payment, 
the immensely valuable privilege of using the streets, and 
then issued bonds on the money value of that privilege. The 
state government in 1899, under Governor Roosevelt, taxed 
the traction companies on the capitalized value of this privi- 
lege which they had received from the public. Some cities 
even attempted to take over the traction lines and make them 
a public service. Municipal subways built by the cities of 
Boston (beginning in 1898) and New York (beginning in 1904) 
were owned by the cities, but were leased to private companies 
to operate. 

These measures checked and guarded some of the corpora- 
tions which had become dangerously powerful, but had no 
effect upon that part of the business of corporations which 
passed from one state to another. Business men, firms, and 
small corporations were being driven out of business. In some 
cases, prices were cut down in a particular state or city till the 



Regulation of Labor 549 

small competitors were killed out and then the big corporation 
had a monopoly. 

352. Regulation of Labor (1880-1895) 

The laborers, especially those employed in manufacturing 
and transportation, felt the pressure of these great organiza- 
tions and did their best to meet it by powerful organizations of 
their own. For many years they had been managing large 
unions made up of all the m^^n that would join out of a par- 
ticular trade. Most of them paid sick benefits and burial ex- 
penses, but their main purpose was to improve the conditions 
of work hours and wages. The most successful of these unions 
was the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, which readily 
secured favorable conditions of work and pay, with very few 
strikes. The idea of one general controlling union was still alive. 
The Knights of Labor (§ 332) could not hold their ground in 
that direction, but in 1886 the American Federation of 
Labor was formed to unite so far as possible the special 
trades unions into a national body, which should have 
authority to order men in one trade to strike in order to 
help strikers in another trade. The Federation through 
strikes pressed the issue whether employers would ".recognize 
the union " — that is, would make agreements with their 
employees only through officers of the union — and would 
establish the "closed shop" — that is, would employ only 
union hands. 

From this time the labor unions became an important factor 
in business. They accumulated funds for strike benefits and 
other purposes, by laying high initiation fees and dues on mem- 
bers. They issued "union cards" to members in good stand- 
ing, without which, in some trades, no one could get a job. 
They made every eifort to raise the wages of laborers employed 
by the various governments so as to create a high standard of 
earnings for private employment. They avoided politics, for 
they saw that they were not numerous enough to make a sue- 



550 Regulation of Business 

cessful national party of their own and therefore remained 
divided between the main parties. 

The laws had long since ceased to hold strikes to be a breach 
of the peace. Nobody was liable to be punished for refusing 
to do the work which he had agreed to do, except soldiers and 
sailors ; and if two men, or any larger number of men, united 
in a strike — that is, in refusing to work — they were not com- 
mitting any offense. If, however, such men attempted to compel 
others to strike by threats or violence, they cou'd be dealt 
with by the law, and some courts even punished men and women 
for "picketing"; that is, for standing near the entrance of 
factories trying to persuade the hands to give up their jobs. 

Another labor method was the "boycott," which was an 
.agreement not to buy goods from the concerns against which 
there was a strike. In some street car strikes, people were 
beaten or killed because they patronized the cars which were 
run by non-union employees. The courts at that time almost 
always held that the boycott was not legal, although they did 
not deal so severely with the "black list," which was an agree- 
ment between employers not to give work to individuals who 
they thought were having a bad influence on their hands. 

The labor men were successful in putting several kinds of 
work on the footing of state regulated industries. Examina- 
tion boards were created for such trades as plumbing, running 
stationary engines, and barbering, and nobody could obtain 
work who was not certified by those examiners. The states 
also began to legislate for the welfare of laborers by reducing 
the legal hours of labor and passing acts to compel employers 
to make dangerous machinery safe. 

In some trades the result was a kind of war between the 
'employers and the employed, each striving to build up a power- 
ful organization, with plenty of reserve money to use to support 
strikes or lockouts. Some manufacturers joined in a sort of 
union to protect themselves. The factory of the president of 
that union was put on the "unfair Hst" by the American Fed- 



Era of Strikes 



551 



eration of Labor. The natural tendency of the unions was 
to raise wages and to compel the payment of wages in cash 
instead of in " store pay " ; that is, goods from stocks carried for 
that purpose by the companies. 



353- 



Era of Strikes 



A test of the power of the new labor unions was a series of 
great strikes. The first came in 1886 on the Gould system of 




Post Office, Chicago. 

railroads leading southwest from St. Louis. In 1892, in a 
fearful strike at the Homestead Iron Works near Pittsburgh, 
a body of private guards, furnished by a detective agency 
and sworn in as constables, were fired upon by the strikers, 
several of them were killed, and wounded men were put to 
death by infuriated men and women. There were many 
strikes during 1893 and 1894, of which the worst began in a 
strike at the Pullman Car Works near Chicago. The Ameri- 



552 Regulation of Business 

can Railway Union, through their president, Eugene V. Debs, 
took up the dispute, and demanded that the company settle 
it with them, as representing organized labor. 'VC'hen the com- 
pany refused. Debs called out the railroad men on a "sym- 
pathetic strike." On one road after another they refused to 
handle, first Pullman cars, then the cars of the "tied-up roads," 
till the whole railway business of Chicago, and indeed of the 
whole great country west of Chicago, was in confusion. Non- 
union men (called "scabs" by the strikers) who were employed 
by the railroads were beaten, and some of them killed. The 
unions disclaimed responsibility for these acts of violence. 

All these great strikes at last broke down. As the govern- 
ment of Illinois did not keep order, President Cleveland made 
use of the only organized force adequate for such cases by 
calling out United States troops to prevent the obstruction of 
United States mails and of interstate commerce (July 8, 1894). 
This broke the strike, and the Pullman Company then came to 
an understanding with its employees. A federal court served 
an injunction on Debs, forbidding him to interfere with inter- 
state commerce. As he ignored this injunction, Debs was im- 
prisoned for contempt of court, and the Supreme Court of the 
United States held the sentence good. 

354. Regulation of Immigration 

A large part of the wage earners by this time were immigrants 
or their children, for the number of immigrants was greatly 
increasing (§ 346). In the single year 1882 it ran up to nearly 
800,000. (See page 362.) When times were hard, as after the 
commercial panic of 1873 and the financial crisis of 1893, 
immigration dropped off; but as business increased, the num- 
bers were enlarged. 

Down to about 1885 nearly all the immigrants came from 
Scandinavian countries, Germany, Great Britain, and Canada, 
but from that time on these elements all diminished in number 
and their place was taken by a large immigration from Italy, 



Eegiilation of Immigration 



553 




The Landing of Immigrants. 

Austria-Hungary (mostly Slavic peoples), and Russia. Under 
the operation of the Chinese exclusion laws (§ 332), the importa- 
tion of Chinese was cut off; but about 1894 began a Japanese 
immigration which increased till it was 30,000 a year. 

Among the immigrants were many French Canadians, 
who found ready employment in the textile mills of New Eng- 
land. For a time they saved their money and went back to 
Canada, but before i8go they began to settle as permanent 
residents of our country. They furnished the first consider- 
able movement of people of the Latin races into the United 
States. Alongside of it went an increasing immigration of 
Italians, who soon became the most dependable source of rough 
labor by large gangs, work which previously had been done by 
men of the English stock, the Irish, and the Germans. The 
Italians also furnished many skilled laborers in artistic indus- 
tries, such as the molding of plaster. 



554 Regulation of Business 

The carrying of immigrants was a part of commerce between 
foreign nations and the United States, which was under the 
exclusive control of the federal government. National regu- 
lation began (1848) with laws for the proper accommodation and 
treatment of immigrants while on board ship. Then in 1884 
Congress created an immigration commissioner. The first law 
for limiting immigration was an act prohibiting the entrance of 
persons convicted of crimes in their own country " other than 
political" (1875). "Coolie" (Chinese) laborers were also ex- 
cluded. Down to 1882 nobody else was shut out, but in that 
year Congress forbade the coming in of " any lunatic, idiot, or 
any person unable to take care of himself or herself." In 1885, 
under the influence of the labor unions, Congress prohibited the 
bringing in of " contract laborers " (§ 332). In 1891 the list 
was extended to include insane persons, paupers, persons ill of 
contagious diseases, and polygamists. In 1903, after the assas- 
sination of McKinley, anarchists were added. Congress also 
laid a head tax beginning at 50 cents but raised to $4 per head 
(1907). 

Though several thousand people were sent back every year 
because they were found to be included in this list, the number 
of immigrants continued to grow till, in 1907, it reached the 
high-water mark of 1,285,349 in a single year. (See page 362.) 
As the immigrants saved money, many of them went back to 
visit their old homes, but nearly all returned to the United 
States. The Italians and some other races showed a desire to 
return home and live there, so that in a single year over 300,- 
000 people have sometimes gone back. They sent or took with 
them their savings, but of course they left behind the buildings 
and roads and bridges that they had built and the manufac- 
tured goods which they had helped to produce. 

355. Political Reforms (i 885-1 895) 

While thus endeavoring to control powerful corporations 
and to pay attention to the rising demands of the laborers, 



Political Reforms 555 

the national and state governments also took in hand some 
of the defects of their own system. The most striking instance 
of political reform was the progress in improving the civil 
service of the United States. President Cleveland did not 
disturb the " classified " service as he found it (§ 340), but out- 
side of that Umited number he allowed thousands of removals 
to make room for party friends. Under Cleveland's successor, 
President Harrison, Theodore Roosevelt became chairman of 
the National Civil Service Commission and made it the busi- 
ness of the commission to follow up instances of violation of the 
rules. It was he who gave the name of " merit system " to the 
method of admitting to the public service those who had passed 
among the highest in a competitive examination. By the time 
Cleveland came in again in 1893, 44,000 offices had been placed 
in the classified service, and he made further additions to the 
classified list. 

Several other defects in the workings of the federal govern- 
ment were corrected in this period. A Presidential Succession 
Act (1886) provided that in case of the death or disability of 
the President and Vice President, the Secretary of State (if 
constitutionally eligible to the ofiice) should fill the vacancy, 
and if he were disabled, some other rhember of the Cabinet, in 
a specified succession. The danger felt in 1877 in the count of 
electoral votes for President was removed by an act (1887) for 
accepting the certificate of state authorities as final in deter- 
mining the electors chosen by each state. The Tenure of Office 
Act of 1867, which led to the impeachment of President Johnson 
(§ 318), was completely repealed (1887). The House of Repre- 
sentatives often found its business blocked by " filibustering " 
motions and by amendments which were intended only to kill 
time; and under the leadership of the Speaker, Thomas B. 
Reed, one of the ablest men of his time, adopted in 1890 a 
new code of rules giving the Speaker more power to prevent 
such practices. 

The states felt the reforming spirit, and two of them — New 



556 Regulation of Business 

York (18S3) and Massachusetts (1884) — passed statutes for 
the merit system ; and it was later introduced into Chicago 
(1895) and other cities. The cities tried to improve their 
governments by securing new charters from the legislatures. 
New York and Brooklyn and several smaller places united in 
1897 in the city of "Greater New York," which at once became 
second in population and wealth only to London. Neverthe- 
less the state and city governments were still clashing, prin- 
cipally because the governors and mayors were not allowed to 
be business managers like the heads of great corporations, but 
had to work with other ofificials whom they had not appointed 
and could not control. Hence it was hard to secure efficiency. 

356. Review 

Side by side with the political questions after 1884, went 
a great change of public sentiment with regard to the rela- 
tions of government to business. Population showed nearly 
63,000,000 in 1890, including several million immigrants, 
distributed all over the Union. The cities did not take sufficient 
pains to provide for their future population, and suffered from 
many scandals, especially in New York, which was looted in 
the seventies by the "Tweed Ring." 

The system of corporations was greatly extended. Com- 
panies were formed for all kinds of business and enjoyed great 
privileges of trade, granted by the states. About 1865 the 
states began to regulate railroads, and then other corporations. 
Some were so great and powerful as to defy public control, and 
the name of "trust" was applied to them, and loosely to all 
large corporations. 

The railroads could be regulated by the states on "intrastate" 
business but not on "interstate" business. Some of them 
granted special rates and facilities to particular places or 
corporations. Congress made attempts to develop water trans- 
portation so as to compete with the railroads. Then it passed 
the so-called "Sherman Act" (1890), which provided for pun- 



References 557 

ishment of attempts to "monopolize" any line of interstate 
business. 

The laborers, on their side, were founding powerful unions 
in many great lines of trade ; and the American Federation 
of Labor became a central authority. They urged the states 
and Congress to improve the conditions of labor, and made 
use of strikes and boycotts. Antagonisms grew up between 
the trades uni';ns and the employers, leading to violent strikes, 
in which many strikebreakers were killed. President Cleveland 
and the Supreme Court used the authority of the federal gov- 
ernment to stop this violence. 

Conditions of immigration changed : fewer people came from 
English-speaking countries, and more from French Canada 
and eastern and southern Europe. Beginning in 1875, Congress 
passed a series of laws shutting out various classes of undesirables 
from immigration. 

Several defects in the national government were corrected 
during this time. President Cleveland and his successors 
followed out the civil service reforms of President Arthur ; and 
definite acts were passed regulating the presidential succession, 
count of the electoral vote, and tenure of office. Some improve- 
ments were also made in state and city governments. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 362, 510. — Bogart, Econ. 
Hist., 37S, 433, 482, 490, 529. — Fish, Am. Naiioiiality, 438. — Semple, 
Geogr. Conditions, chs. xv-xvii. 

Secondary. Bassett, U.S., 731-744, 774-777. — Beard, Conteinp. 
Am. Hist., ch. iii. — Bogart, Econ. Hist., chs. xxiii, xxv, xxviii, xxix, 
xxxi. — Coman, Indiist. Hist., 347-374. • — Dewey, Nat. Problems, 
chs. i, iii, vi, xii, xviii. — Hall, Immigration. — Latane, Am. as a 
World Power, ch. xvii. — Munro, Govt, of Am. Cities, 15-27. — Paxson, 
New Nation, 135, 157-168, 172, 177-187, 244-251. — Wilson, Atu. 
People, V. 184-187, 264-269. — Woodburn, Polit. Parties, chs. xvi, 
xvii. — Wright, Indust. Evolution, ch. xxvi. 

Sources. Antin, Projuised Land (immigration). — Beard, Readings, 
§§ 52, 53, 143-148. — Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 608-622, 



558 Regulation of Business 

768-776, 781-790, 817, 840. — Hart, Contemporaries, IV. §§ 165, 197, 
200-202. — MacPonald, Select Statutes, nos. 114, 120, 124, 127. 

Illustrative. Churchill, Mr. Crewels Career. ■ — Harris, The Bomb. 

— Hay, The Breadwinners. — Luther, The Henchman. — Merwin and 
Webster, Calumet "K"; Short-Line War. — Norris, The Octopus; The 
Pit. — Payne, Money Captain; Mr. Salt. — Riis, How the Other Half 
Lives. — Smith, Tom Grogan. — Thanet, Heart of Toil. — Webster, 
Banker and the Bear. — White, A Certain. Rich Man. 

Pictures. Bogart, Econ. Hist. — Coman, Indust. Hist. — Harper's 
Weekly. — McClure's. — Scientific American. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Immigrants in some particular city. [§ 346] — (2) Incidents of 
the " Tweed Ring." [§ 347] — (3) Service of one of the following rail- 
road magnates : William H. Vanderbilt ; Jay Gould ; Edgar Thom- 
son; C. P. Huntington; James J. Hill. [§ 349] — (4) Account of the 
Eads jetty system. [§ 349] — (5) Ship canals in the Great Lakes region. 
[§ 349] — (6) American Federation of Labor. [§ 352] — (7) One of the 
following strikes : Railroad of 1886 ; Homestead of 1892 ; Pullman of 1894. 
[§ 353] — (8) Roosevelt's public service previous to 1901. [§ 355] — 
(9) Reed as czar of the House. [§ 355] 

Topics for Further Search 

(10) Debates on the Interstate Commerce Act, or the Original Package 
Law, or the Sherman Antitrust Law. [§§ 350, 351] — (11) Notable boy- 
cotts by union labor. [§353] — (12) Laws Hmiting immigration. [§ 354] 

— (13) Refusal of admission to immigrants. [§ 354] — (14) Creation 
of Greater New York. [§ 355] 



CHAPTER XXXII 
THE SPANISH WAR AND ITS RESULTS (1895-1903) 

357. Troubles in Cuba (1895-1898) 

A NEW era of national history began when our territory was 
extended by war with Spain in 1898. After the end of the 
Cuban insurrection in 1878 (§ 338) Cuba quickly recovered 
prosperity, till the island had an export trade of $100,000,000 
a year, most of it to the United States. Yet many of the native- 
born Cubans were discontented, for in government and society 
they were considered inferiors by the "peninsulars," or native 
Spaniards ; taxes were high ; and the trade of the island was, 
so far as possible, kept in the hands of Spanish merchants. 

An insurrection broke out in Cuba in 1895, aided by a 
"Junta" — a council of wealthy Cubans in the United States 
— who within three years sent from the United States several 
filibustering expeditions, with arms and men for the insurgents. 
The war was savage on both sides ; the sugar plantations were 
devastated, and neither party could beat the other. .The 
Spaniards held the western end of the island, and ordered the 
people outside the towns to come within the Spanish lines into 
reconcentrado camps, where many of them miserably perished. 
Property was destroyed, often that of American citizens ; and 
some American residents and newspaper correspondents were 
arrested on suspicion that they were helping the insurgents. 

A natural sympathy with a people struggling for independence 
led a Senate committee to investigate conditions in Cuba 
(1896). Part of the American press stirred up the trouble 

559 



560 The Spanish War and its Results 

as much as possible and helped to drive from his post the Spanish 
minister De Lome, who was supposed to have spoken slight- 
ingly of the President and the government in a private letter. 

Demonstrations against the Americans in Havana led our 
government to send the battleship Maine on a friendly visit 
to that city. The Maine was blown up by an explosion ("Febru- 
ary 15, 1898) which killed 260 of the men; and an American 
naval board of inquiry later reported that the ship was destroyed 
by a mine. It was thought that Spaniards were responsible, 
though our consul-general at Havana, Fitzhugh Lee, said : "I do 
not think it was put there by the Spanish government. I think 
probably it was an act of four or five subordinate officers." 

War was so likely that Congress placed at the disposal of 
the President $50,000,000 for national defense (March 9). 
President McKinley and Thomas B. Reed, Speaker of the House, 
were both anxious to prevent war ; but there Vas a strong public 
feeling that Spain could not keep order in Cuba, could not sub- 
due the insurgents, and could not protect American property 
or even the shipping in Cuban harbors. The time seemed to 
have come to end the Spanish government in the western world. 
Senator Proctor of Vermont added to the flame by a speech 
(March 17, 1898) describing the horrors he had seen in Cuba. 

358. Outbreak of War (1898) 

After some months of negotiation, in which promises of re- 
form in Cuba were proposed by Spain, President McKinley 
sent a message to Congress (April 11, 1898) in which he de- 
scribed the loss of property and life, and said : "In the name of 
humanity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of endangered 
American interests, which give us the right and the duty to 
speak and act, the war in Cuba must stop." Accordingly a 
joint resolution was passed (April 19) directing the President 
to use the military and naval forces of the United States to 
compel Spain to leave Cuba. To this measure was added the 
Teller Resolution against conquest, in the words : 



Outbreak of War 



<6i 



"3(0 



.Si 

jnitn Til, '^'S^f 

panay; I 



MINDORO/ 




"That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition 
or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control 
over said island except for the pacification thereof, and asserts 
its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the gov- 
ernment and control of the island to its people." 

On the outbreak of war. Commodore George Dewey, in com- 
mand of the American vessels in the Pacific, was ordered to find 
and fight the Spanish fleet that 
was stationed in the Philippine 
Islands. He had a small fleet of 
six modern steel vessels with 
which to confront the weak 
Spanish fleet ; and he attacked 
under the guns of the Spanish 
forts of Cavite, in Manila Bay 
(May I, 1898). After four hours' 
spirited fight he set the Spanish 
fleet on fire, and sent home a 
brief dispatch to the effect that 
he had destroyed eleven vessels 
and the fort, with trifling loss to 
his fleet. 

Dewey anchored off the city of 
Manila, which for some time 
remained in the hands of the 

Spaniards. He shortly brought to the island, Aguinaldo, a 
Phflippine native of influence, who had been engaged in an 
insurrection against the Spanish power, and who now renewed 
the insurrection and raised a Philippine army. Manila was 
attacked by sea and land, and eventually taken (August 13, 
1898) by a fleet under Dewey, and an American army under 
General Merritt. Aguinaldo expected that he would have the 
opportunity to found a Philippine state, though no such promise 
was ever made to him ; and his troops remained in the trenches 
before Manila, confronting the Americans. 



. ,. "jto SULU 
^ris LANDS 
,'• CELEBES 



The Philippines. 



562 



The Spanish War and its Results 




Routes of Fleets to Santiago de Cuba. 



359. Campaigns in Cuba and Porto Rico (1898) 

Cuba was very soon blockaded by a fleet under the command 
of Admiral Sampson, but the Spaniards could be forced to leave 
the island only by an army. As the United States then had 
onl}^ about 26,000 regular troops, Congress authorized an 

increase to 63,000, be- 
sides the volunteers 
called for by the Presi- 
dent. In a few weeks 
about 200,000 men 
were enlisted in the 
volunteers, consisting 
in part of state militia 
commands. The navy 
was well organized ; 
but the new army was 
not trained for campaigning, and the War Department was 
not prepared to handle, clothe, or feed so many men. Secre- 
tary of War Alger said, "It is doubtful if any nation rated as 
a first-class power ever entered upon a war of offense in a condi- 
tion of less military preparation." Meanwhile a second small 
Spanish fleet left Spain for Cuba. Admiral Schley with a 
flying squadron was sent out to look for the Spaniards, and 
with some difhculty ascertained that they had slipped into 
the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. Admiral Sampson then took 
command and blockaded the port. 

A small force of 17,000 men was brought together in 
Tampa Bay under General Shaffer, and with great confusion 
and difficulty landed on the south coast of Cuba. It then 
marched up to capture Santiago from the Spaniards. The 
army had no proper transportation or medical supplies, and 
the food was poor and sometimes scanty. No army of Cuban 
patriots could be found. The principal fight was at San 
Juan Hill (July i, 1898) in which good service was done by 



End of the War 



563 




the "Rough Riders," part of Colonel Roosevelt's dismounted 
cavalry regiment. 

The Spanish fleet under Admiral Cervera at last made a, 
dash out of Santiago (July 3, 1898). Ad- 
miral Sampson's flagship, the New York, 
was out of range to the eastward, and 
Admiral Schley was next in command. In 
execution of Sampson's standing orders the 
American ships dashed at the enemy, 
and in a running fight forced ashore and 
destroyed all four of the cruisers and two 
torpedo boats, with little damage to any 
of the American ships. The credit for this 
victory is due to the vim and dash of all 
the officers and men engaged, and also to 
the foresight of Admiral Sampson, who 
made preparations to receive just such an 
attack. The troops now pushed nearer to 
Santiago, and that city with its garrison 
surrendered (July 17, 1898). The island of Porto Rico was 
taken by 17,000 men under command of General Miles, who 
landed (July 25) on the southwest coast, moved eastward and 
took the city of Ponce, and then crossed the island to San 
Juan. There was little resistance, and the people welcomed 
the invaders. 

360. End of the War (1898) 

The Spaniards still had a force of about 50,000 men at Ha- 
vana, and the little American army at Santiago was already 
seized with fever. It was not properly supplied with hospital 
tents and medicines, and ten of the general officers united in a 
so-called "round robin" addressed to General Shaffer, to say, 
"This army must be moved at once or it will perish." Accord- 
ingly it was transported from Cuba to Long Island (August 7). 
Spain was in no condition for further fighting, and (August 12) a 
"protocol," or agreement, was signed, under which Spain was to 
hart's new amer. hist. — 35 



A Rough Rider, 

1898. 



564 The Spanish War and its Results 

evacuate Cuba and to cede Porto Rico to the United States ; the 
future of the PhiHppines was to be settled by a later treaty of peace. 
The protocol came too late to stop hostilities at Manila, for the 
city surrendered (§ 358) before the news of peace arrived. 

For the definite treaty of peace, President McKinley appointed 
a special commission which met the Spanish representatives 
in Paris. The negotiators found a troublesome question in the 
Philippines, which were very distant from the United States, 
and had a mixed population ranging from head-hunting sav- 
ages to highly civilized Spanish-speaking gentlemen. Should 
the United States return the islands to Spain? or turn them 
over to Aguinaldo's government? or annex them outright? 

The arguments for annexation were : (i) The islands were a 
rich and fertile region, which the United States would be glad 
to possess. (2) The war with Spain had destroyed the govern- 
ment of the Philippines and made it the duty of the United 
States to give the people a just and orderly government. 
(3) The Philippines were so near the coast of Asia that the pos- 
session of them would give the United States great influence 
with China and eastern Asia. 

For some time the President hesitated. Annexation of dis- 
tant islands seemed a departure from all the previous policy 
of the government; but both McKinley and his new Secre- 
tary of State, John Hay, agreed that it was the course most 
Ukely to bring peace to the islands, and to give the United 
States a position in the Pacific. The treaty of peace, signed 
at Paris, December 10, 1898, provided that "Spain relinquishes 
all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba," and ceded 
outright Porto Rico, Guam in the Ladrones, and the Philippine 
Islands. The United States was to pay $20,000,000 to Spain. 

For some time it was doubtful whether the Senate would 
ratify the treaty. Bryan, as a Democratic leader, came to 
Washington and used his influence with Democratic senators 
in favor of the treaty. It was ratified by the Senate (February 
6, 1899) and was proclaimed by the President, April 14, 1899. 



William McKinley, President 



565 



361. William McKinley, President (1897-1901) 

During and after the war, President McKinley came more 
and more to the front as a man of power. He was born in Niles, 
Ohio, in 1843, served 
with gallantry in the 
Civil War, and rose 
from a private to a 
major. In 1877 he 
was sent to Congress, 
where he grew in repu- 
tation, and in 1889 
was made chairman of 
the Ways and Means 
Committee ; that is, 
leader of his party on 
the floor of the House. 
To him was committed 
the task of drafting 
the new tariff in 1890 
(§341). By a "gerry- 
mander" he lost his 
seat in Congress, but 
in 1 89 1 he was elected 
governor of Ohio, and 
he was the logical can- 
didate of his party for 
the presidency in 1896. His intimate friend, Marcus A. Hanna, 
came into the Senate from Ohio, and was the President's right- 
hand man. McKinley was one of the most gracious and genial 
men who ever sat in the White House. 

He cannot be held responsible for the war with Spain, which 
he felt was demanded by public opinion ; but he made the 
decision for taking the Philippines. He also urged upon Con- 
gress a new tariff and settlement of the currency question. 




WiLI.IAJVI McKlNLF.Y. 



566 



The Spanish War and its Results 



Immediately after his inauguration (1897) McKinley 
called a special session of Congress, in which the Republicans 
controlled both houses. Dingley of Maine, chairman of the 
Committee of Ways and Means, engineered the making of 
a new tariff (July 24, 1897), the third one passed since 
1889. The scale of duties of the McKinley Tariff of 1890 was 
restored and somewhat increased. The cry was raised that 
certain manufacturers who wanted their products protected had 







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been allowed to write paragraphs of the measure, because they 
had made large contributions to the party campaign fund. 

The silver controversy was much affected by a great increase 
in the output of gold, so that all over the world there was gold 
enough to serve as a standard for the world's business, and 
Congress finally passed an act definitely establishing the single 
gold standard (March 14, 1900). Under it all outstanding papek' 
money was redeemable in gold coin. 

McKinley was reelected in 1900 over Bryan, again the Demo- 
cratic candidate (§ 344), by an electoral vote of 292 to 155, and 



New Dependencies 567 

began his second term with a prestige and influence which no 
President had enjoyed for many years. He urged a Hberal 
tariff policy which would aid trade in our manufactured goods 
abroad, but before Congress met he was sliot (September 6, 
igoi) by an obscure fanatic. He died lamented by all his 
countrymen, and was succeeded by Vice President Roosevelt. 

362. New Dependencies (1899-1902) 

After the capture of Manila, Aguinaldo still hoped for inde- 
pendence, and kept up his forces outside the city of Manila 
(§ 358). He and his officers grew discontented, and their 
soldiers brought on a fight (February 4, 1899). For two years 
Aguinaldo kept together an organized force, until he was made 
a prisoner; and the insurrection continued until 1902. 

The treaty of 1899 declared that "the civil rights and polit- 
ical status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby 
ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Con- 
gress." Accordingly a modified form of territorial government 
was created for Porto 
Rico (April, 1900), in 
which the members 
of the upper house of 
the legislature were ap- 
pointed by the Presi- 
dent ; but the act did 
not make the island 
part of the United 
States. In 191 7 Porto 
Rico received a larger 
degree of self-govern- 
ment and Porto Ricans 
were made citizens of 
the United States. For 
the temporary govern- 
ment of the Philippines Husking Coconuts in Porto Rico. 




568 The Spanish War and its Results 

the President, on his own responsibility, appointed two succes- 
sive commissions of civilians, and Congress later authorized him 
to establish a government at his discretion (March 2, 1901). 
He continued the.former commission under Judge Taf t of Ohio ; 
and that commission organized a government for the islands 
and set up local governments wherever it was safe. 

Trouble at once arose over the question whether the United 
States tariff applied to these new dependencies. The question, 





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Village in the Philippine Islands. 

so far as it concerned Porto Rico, was settled by an act of 
Congress (April 12, 1900), providing a special tariff for that 
island, but allowing it speedily to come into the regular tariff 
system of the United States ; that is, to be free from all duties 
on trade with the states. In 1901 the Supreme Court supported 
this legislation by decisions in the "Insular Cases." The ma- 
jority of the court (5 to 4) agreed : (i) that Congress had the 
right to make a separate tariff for the dependencies; (2) that 
Porto Rico and the Philippines were not foreign countries; 
(3) that they were also not complete parts of the United States, 
unless Congress should choose to incorporate them. 



Relations with Cuba 569 

Acting on those principles, Congress made a special tarif! of 
import duties into the Philippines (March 8, 1902), and fixed 
the duties on imports from the Philippines into the United 
States at three fourths the rates on similar imports from other 
countries. By another act (July i, 1902) a bill of rights was 
adopted which contained substantially the guarantees of per- 
sonal liberty set forth in the federal Constitution (§ 137), 
except the clauses for jury trials and for keeping and bearing 
arms. A permanent form of government was created by 
Congress — substantially the same as that framed by the 
commission. Judge Taft was appointed civil governor, and 
provision was made for an Assembly of elected represent- 
atives. 

363. Relations with Cuba (1898-1903) 

As Cuba was completely disorganized by the war, United 
States troops were left in the island. General Leonard Wood 
was appointed military governor, and within a few months 
the island was restored to order; roads and telegraphs were 
built, hundreds of schools were opened, and prosperity slowly 
returned. What were to be the future relations of the United 
States to Cuba? Annexation was out of the question, in view 
of the Teller Resolution of 1898 (§ 358). The President and 
Cabinet drew up a set of regulations for Cuba which were passed 
by Congress under the name of the "Piatt Amendment" 
(March 2, 1901). It contained as bases for the future govern- 
ment of Cuba the following principles : (i) Cuba must make no 
foreign agreements contrary to the interests of the United States. 
(2) Cuba must not incur a debt that she could not pay. (3) 
Sites were to be ceded on the Cuban coast for United States 
naval stations. (4) Cuban ports must not be allowed to be 
breeding places of disease. (5) The United States was to have 
the right to occupy Cu':a, if necessary to keep order. 

A Cuban constitutional convention agreed to these conditions 
(June 12), and formed a republic of which General Palma 



570 The Spanish War and its Results 

was elected first president. The control of the island was 
formally given up to the new government (May 20, 1902), 
and the United States troops were withdrawn. 

Next came the question of the commercial relations of the 
two countries. The Cubans had lost their former market in 
Spain, and expected that the United States would make a reduc- 
tion on the regular tariff duties on imports from Cuba. As 
the House paid no attention to urgent messages from both 
President McKinley and his successor, President Roosevelt, 
a treaty was negotiated (1903) for a 20 per cent reduction on 
regular import duties, and was ratified by the Senate with a 
proviso that it be subject to the approval of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, a very unusual method of securing a treaty. 

364. The United States in the Pacific (1897-1913) 

The United States reached far beyond the boundaries of 
the Pacific coast states. To the northward lay Alaska, annexed 
from Russia in 1867 and provided with a government in 1884 
as "a civil and judicial district." It was an immense region, ex- 
tending from the North Pacific to the Arctic Ocean and west- 
ward to Bering Sea, together with the Aleutian Islands which 
reach almost to the coast of Asia. For many years the only 
source of wealth in Alaska was the fur seals, caught on and 
near the Pribilof Islands in Bering Sea. Then in 1897 gold 
was discovered on the headwaters of the Yukon River, mostly 
in Canadian territory. The result was a stampede of pros- 
pectors and gold diggers. Gold was also found on the sea 
beaches at Nome, almost on the Arctic Circle. The popu- 
lation of Alaska increased slowly, and in 191 2 Congress at last 
created a regular territorial government for it. 

The interest of the United States in the Pacific led to several 
annexations of island territory. The Hawaiian Islands had 
for many years enjoyed a favorable commercial treaty with 
us; and in 1893, with the aid of marines landed from a United 
States ship, a party which included most of the people of Ameri- 



The United States in Asia " 571 

can descent in the islands, revoked from the native monarchy 
and set up a repubhc. President Cleveland would not agree 
to annexation ; but during the Spanish War a joint resolution 
of Congress (July 7, 1898) brought the Hawaiian Islands into 
the United States, and they were organized as a territory (1900). 
This important group in the mid-Pacific is especially valuable 
as a naval station. 

The United States, Great Britain, and Germany all had in- 
terests in the Samoan Islands ; hence a tripartite treaty had been 
agreed on (June 14, 1889), by which the three powers admin- 
istered the islands together. The natives tried to fight out 
their own quarrels, and this led to such confusion that in. 1899 
the three powers made a division treaty, by which the United 
States took the island of Tutuila and five other small islands, 
with the harbor of Pago Pago, one of the best in the Pacific. 
Various small islands. Baker, Midway, Wake, Rowland, and 
others, which lay in the mid-Pacific and had never been claimed 
by any other power, were annexed by the United States, to be 
used as landing or telegraph stations. 

365. The United States in Asia 

The results of the war of 1898 gave the United States a new 
place in the world's councils. In a conference held at the 
Hague, in Holland, to discuss means of preventing war (1899), 
the influence of the United States was high among the twenty- 
seven nations represented, and helped to bring about a general 
treaty providing courts of arbitration. 

That influence was also strong in China, where France, Great 
Britain, Germany, Japan, and Russia were all trying to take 
and keep Chinese territory. The interest of the United States 
in China was heightened by the great opportunity for commerce 
with that populous nation, which offered a market for American 
flour, piece goods, machinery, railway material, and other 
exports. For the growing commerce with Japan and China, 
the main ports were Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, and San Fran- 




'9ryt:Q ,. "«■ Sea c.v^'rTrr .« 

t»''o5 J=*Bueii:iventura 1i I ■ / 

'COLOMBIA,-),.,,'' / !., -'' -' 







573 




A Philippine Eoat with Out-riggers. 



574 The Spanish War and its Results " 

CISCO. American, Japanese, and British steamer lines ran from 
these ports and also from Vancouver in British Columbia, 

carrying out timbf.-r, 
flour, cotton cloth, 
and various manu- 
factures, and bringing 
back tea, silk, and 
other Oriental prod- 
ucts. 

The ownership of 
the Philippines caused 
the United States to 
feel some responsi- 
bility for happenings 
in eastern Asia. Therefore, a small body of American troops 
in 1900 joined similar detachments of British, French, Rus- 
sian, Italian, and Japanese troops in a march from the coast 
to Peking ; there they defeated the Chinese Boxers and res- 
cued the diplomats who had for weeks been besieged in the 
city. Secretary Hay proposed the pohcy of "the open door," 
by which he meant the right of all foreign nations to trade 
on equal terms in all parts of China, and the European powers 
accepted this principle. Secretary Hay also did his best to 
hold back the European powers from greedy demands for a large 
money indemnity from the Chinese, after the Boxer Rebellion. 

366. Review 

Unsatisfactory government of Cuba by Spain led to an in- 
surrection there in 1895. American property and citizens 
suffered, and the battleship Maine was blown up (February, 
1898) in the harbor of Havana. To end the oppression 
of the Cubans, Congress authorized intervention (April, 1898), 
at the same time promising not to annex Cuba. 

The significant military events of the war which followed 
were: (i) Admiral Dewey's defeat of the Spanish fleet in Manila 



References 575 

Bay (May i) ; (2) later capture of Manila ; (3) blockade of 
Cuba ; (4) attack on Santiago by Shaf ter's army (San Juan 
HiU) ; (5) destruction of the Spanish fleet as it tried to escape ; 
(6) capture of Santiago (July) ; (7) capture of Porto Rico. 

The Spaniards did not care to prolong the fighting and signed 
a preliminary treaty (August 12). Negotiations at Paris 
resulted in a treaty of peace (December 10) by which Spain 
ceded Porto Rico, the Philippine Islands, and the island of 
Guam, and "relinquished sovereignty" over Cuba. 

For this treaty. President McKinley was responsible, and he 
became one of the most popular men in the country. Not 
long before the war the Dingley tariff of 1897 was passed. 
Congress established the gold standard for our paper money 
(i 900) . McKinley was reelected President, but was assassinated, 

Aguinaldo, a Filipino leader, headed a fight for the inde- 
pendence of the Philippine Islands (1899). Meanwhile Porto 
Rico was organized ; and the Hawaiian Islands, which had been 
annexed in 1898, were also organized. In the "Insular Cases" 
the Supreme Court held that annexations made by conquest 
were not complete parts of the United States, till "incorpo- 
rated " by Congress. 

An American army was left in Cuba, and it pacified and 
reorganized the island. In 1902, Cuba set up an independent 
government imder an agreement called the "Piatt Amend- 
ment." The United States annexed several small islands in 
the Pacific and part of the Samoan group. The Pacific posses- 
sions led to a new interest in eastern Asia; and in 1900 the 
United States joined a military expedition into China and 
demanded the "open door" for Chinese trade. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 493, 561, 562, 572-573. — 
Chad wick, U. S. and Spain, II, III. — Latane, Am. as a World Power, 
4, 46, 102, 132. — Paxson, New Nation, 77, 259. — Semple, Geogr. 
Conditions, 397-435. 

Secondary. Bassett, U.S., 784-814, 822-824. — Beard, Contemp. 



576 The Spanish War and its Results 

Am. Hist., ch. viii. — Brooks, War with Spain. — Carpenter, Am. 
Advance, 288-331. — Chadwick, U. S. and Spain, I. chs. xx-xxix, 
II, III. — Coolidge, U. S. as a World Power, chs. vi-viii, xvii-xix. — 
Fish, Am. Dipt., chs. xxix, xxxii. — Griffis, Am. in the East. — Hart, 
Obvious Orient, chs. xxiv-xxvi. — Haworth, Reconstruction and Union, 
chs. vii, viii. — Latane, Am. as a World Power, chs. i-x. — McCall, 
T. B. Reed, ch. xx. — Maclay, U. S. Navy, III. 39-440. — Olcott, 
Wm. McKinley, I. chs. xvi-xxiii, II. — Thayer, John Hay, II. chs. 
xxiii-xxvii. — Titherington, Span.- Am. War. 

Sources. Appletons' Annual Cyclopedia, 1898 to 1902. — Beard, 
Readings, §§ 154-158. — Caldwell, Terr. Development, 213-255. — Hart, 
Contemporaries, IV. §§ 180-196; Source Book, §§ 141-145. — Hill, 
Liberty Docs., ch. xxiv. — International Year Book, 1898 to 1902. 

Illustrative. Crane, Wounds in the Rain. — Dean, Promotion 
(Philippines). — Dunne, Mr. Dooley in Peace and in War; Mr. Dooley in 
the Hearts of His Coimtrymen. — Hyatt, Little Brown Brother. — 
Lewis, Gunner aboard the Yankee. — Wood, Spirit of the Service. 

Pictures. Century. — Collier's Weekly. — Harper's Pictorial Hist, 
of the War with Spain. — Leslie's Official Hist, of the Span.-Am. War. 
— McClure's. — Mentor, serial no. 89. — Scribner's Magazine. — Worces- 
ter, The Philippines. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Battle of Manila Bay [§ 358], or of Santiago. [§ 359] — (2) Pub- 
lic career of oneoi the following : Proctor; John Hay; Hanna; Dingley. 
[§§ 357) 360, 361] — (3) Military service of one: Dewey; Miles; Wood; 
Roosevelt. [§§ 358, 359] — - (4) Debates on the tariil of 1897. [§ 361] — 
(5) Election of 1900. [§ 361] — ■ (6) Philippine War. [§ 362] — (7) Mili- 
tary occupation of Cuba. [§ 363] — (8) Alaska from 1867 to 1897. 
[§ 364] — (9) Discovery of gold in Alaska. [§ 364] — (10) Attempt to 
annex Hawaii, 1893, or annexation of Hawaii, 1898. [§ 364] — (11) An- 
nexation of small Pacific islands, 1899. [§ 364] 

Topics for Further Search 

(12) Could the war with Spain have been prevented? [§ 358] — 
(13) Public career of Aguinaldo. [§ 358] — (14) Why was the United 
States unprepared for the Spanish War? [§ 359] — (15) Why did the 
United States annex the Philippines? [§ 360] — (16) Why was the 
Piatt Amendment adopted? [§ 363] — (17) First Peace Congress at 
the Hague. [§ 365] — (18) Americans in the Boxer Rebellion. [§ 365] 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

NEW SOUTH AND FAR WEST (1885-1916) 

367. The Sections after 1885 

The history of the United States for nearly a hundred years 
after the Revolution abounded in rivalries between the different 
sections. New England quarreled with the middle states and 
the South. New England and the middle states felt jealous 
of the rising West. Then New England and the middle states 
and the West of that time united into the North and fought 
the Civil War against the South. It took a long time to free 
the land from the rivalry between North and South ; but by 
1885 those two sections had come to understand that they were 
both parts of the same Union, and that they had similar aims 
and interests, and could go hand in hand. When the country 
continued prosperous and peaceful under Grover Cleveland, a 
Democratic President who was supported by the solid South, the 
feelings of hatred and suspicion died out on both sides. 

One reason for the more cordial feeling was that northern and 
southern people traveled more widely. Florida became a win- 
ter pleasure resort and drew northern visitors who stopped over 
in the southern states along their route. Some northerners 
settled on southern plantations or took places as teachers, col- 
lege professors, business and professional men in the southern 
cities. On the other side, wellrto-do southerners spent their 
summers in the North, and southern students entered northern 
colleges, both eastern and western. Some of the ablest business 
men in the South settled in northern cities. 

577 



Admission of New States 579 

In 1885, the West was stretching far beyond the Missouri 
River. A belt of new communities appeared in and beyond 
the Rocky Mountains, which came to be called the far West. 
Both North and South helped to build up this far West. South- 
erners found their way to all the northwestern, southwestern, and 
Pacific states; and the native stock from New England, the 
middle states, and the middle West furnished a large element 
of the population, which was further swelled by hundreds of 
thousands of foreigners. 

By this time, five or six railroads had been completed to the 
Pacific coast, and eastern money poured in to open the mines, 
cut the forests, and develop the cities. In 1885 a large part of 
the far West was still in the hands of Indian tribes; and the 
last of the great herds of buffaloes had just disappeared. The 
newcomers found the same kind of opportunities for hard work 
and wealth in Montana and Utah and California that their 
fathers had found earlier in Michigan and Missouri. The 
far West was for a time the frontier of the United States, but 
a frontier abounding in railroads and growing towns. 

The far West felt little sense of rivalry with the East. It 
had its own ports on the Pacific, its own industries, such as 
cattle raising, mining, and fruit and grain growing. The same 
kind of men and women lived there as in the older states ; but 
there was a livelier spirit of freedom and adventure, especially 
in California, which made the far West dififerent from the older 
parts of the Union. 

368. Admission of New States (1889-1912) 

In 1888 there were no organized states west of the Rockies 
except California, Oregon, Nevada, and part of Colorado. In 
191 2, twenty-four years later, the whole continental area was 
blocked out in communities which took their places as sisters of 
the older states. This process of western state making began 
in 1889, when Congress provided for the admission of North 
Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington. The 



580 New South and Far West 

two Dakotas, having duly adopted state constitutions, were 
formally admitted November 2. They were created out of the 
Territory of Dakota, including a vast prairie region and also 
the mining district of the Black Hills. These two states ver^- 
much resembled their older neighbors, Nebraska and Minnesota. 
A few days later, the two states of Montana (November 8) 
and Washington (November 11) came into the Union. Mon- 
tana is one of the largest of all the states, stretching for 500 miles 
from the Rocky Mountains eastward, including most of the 
valleys of the upper Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. 



Altman, C'ulokado, a Western Mining Town. 

Washington is the' northwestern part of that broad Oregon 
country which was assured to the United States in 1846 (§ 229). 
It includes two very different regions, separated from each 
other by the Cascade Range. The eastern part is the middle 
valley of the Columbia, with large areas of volcanic desert, and 
also the splendid wheat-growing area of the Palouse, often called 
"The Inland Empire." The western part extends from the 
Columbia River around the superb Puget Sound to the British 
boundary. It contains some of the finest harbors on the Pacific 
Ocean, which furnish a point of departure for the Oriental trade. 
These four states at the time of admission had together 
only about 1,000,000 inhabitants, but rapidly increased and 
are destined to be populous members of the Union. 



Admission of New States 581 

Two more states were added in 1890, Idaho and Wyoming, 
idaho is a mountain state, lying mostly on the slope from 
the Rocky Mountains westward to the Snake River, with enor- 
mous water powers, valuable mines, and much good agricultural 
land in the valleys. Wyoming, the 44th state, is the only 
state in the Union except Colorado that boasts exactly 
rectangular boundaries. The chief industry of this region is 
stock raising and mining, including valuable coal mines. 



Wheat Field ix the Palouse Country, Washington. (A combined 
harvester and thresher.) 

Utah territory was for a time more populous than any of these 
six neighbors, but was held back from statehood by a long con- 
troversy with the federal government about polygamy. Plural 
marriages, as the system was called in Utah, were practiced in 
the territory in spite of special acts of Congress prohibiting them. 
In 1896 Utah was admitted as a state, with a pledge in the 
state constitution that polygamy should never be allowed. 

In 1907 the two territories of Indian Territory and Oklahoma 
were united into the state of Oklahoma. This is the only one 



582 New South and Far West 

of the new admissions which can be counted as distinctly south- 
ern ; for in cUmate, productions, and people, it much resembles 
the states immediately to the eastward. Few states in the 
Union are so rich in natural resources as Oklahoma. It has some 
timber and abounds in coal, oil, and natural gas. The western 
end of the state runs up into a mountain range ; the central and 
eastern parts teem with corn, wheat, fruit, and cotton. It is 
a garden spot. 

The only two territories left in the main part of the United 
States were New Mexico and Arizona. Congress wanted to 
be rid of the whole question of organized territories, and both 
were admitted as states in 191 2. Their population was rather 
small and included many Mexican immigrants. Their admission 
completed the process of state making, which began in 1776 
when New Hampshire framed the first state constitution (§ 100). 

369. Material Prosperity of the South 

During this whole period, from 1885 onward, the South was 
steadily gaining in population and wealth. In 1890 there were 
22,700,000 people in the southern states, including Missouri 
and Oklahoma. In 1910 there were 32,700,000. The most 
valuable southern product was corn, most of which was con- 
sumed on the spot as food for man and beast. Cotton always 
attracted more attention, because it was the staple export crop 
that brought in cash. By 1881 the crop reached 6,580,000 
bales — an amount larger than at any time previous to the Civil 
War. The area of cotton land was broadened by the use of 
fertilizers, which brought into use large tracts in the hill country 
and also made more available some of the lands of the " Black 
Belt," which stretches across Alabama and Mississippi. The 
crop rose to 8,650,000 bales in 1900 and 16,700,000 bales in 1914. 

The South also took advantage of its magnificent uncut tim- 
ber, much of it yellow pine, which found a ready market. The 
rich coal deposits of Tennessee, Alabama, and some other states 
were at last developed, and also the iron ore beds, so that great 



Material Prosperity of the South 583 

centers for blast furnaces and rolling mills arose at Chattanooga, 
Birmingham, Greensboro, and elsewhere. The manufacturers 
boasted that they could make pig iron cheaper than anybody 
else in the world. In 1901 immense deposits of oil were dis- 
covered in Texas, and afterwards in Oklahoma, furnishing a 
cheap fuel for locomotives and useful for many purposes. The 
tobacco of Kentucky and other states, the rice of Louisiana, 




Rounding up Cattle on a Texas Ranch. 



Texas, and Arkansas, and the "truck farming" of the Atlantic 
coast and eastern Texas, all added to the wealth of the South. 
Immense quantities of early vegetables were shipped to the north- 
ern cities, and orange raising became a regular industry of Florida. 
The South at last became a manufacturing region. Besides 
the iron works, there were some great machine-making indus- 
tries, such as the Richmond Locomotive Works. The greatest 
industrial gain for the South was the building up of a great 
manufacture of cotton cloth. The attempt to use negro labor 



584 JNew South and Far West 

in cotton mills failed wherever it was tried, but the "poor 
whites " were drawn from their little farms into mill towns, many 
of which were built on the splendid water powers of the Caro- 
linas, Georgia, and Alabama. Mill towns quickly arose, such 
as Columbia (South Carolina), Columbus (Georgia), and 
Tallassee (Alabama). These towns furnished a market for the 
products of the farmers who had stayed on their land, and the 
whole region was prosperous. 

To provide money for such great enterprises, northern and 
European capital flowed in. Banks sprang up all over the 
South, and the planters and manufacturers soon found that 
their savings furnished a vast capital belonging to the South 
which could be used to develop the region. This prosperity 
reacted on the cities. Such places as Norfolk, Savannah, 
Atlanta, Montgomery, Mobile, and Memphis grew populous 
and rich. New Orleans, as the largest southern port and as the 
center of a network of railroads, profited by these improvemer ts. 
Beyond the Mississippi appeared such prosperous cities as 
Oklahoma City, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antoijo. 

370. Labor in the South 

All this growth of the new South would have been impossible 
but for a new labor system. The South drew very few im- 
migrants from foreign countries ; skilled laborers did not seem 
to like their social conditions; and except a few thousand 
Italians, foreigners could not be induced to work on the plan- 
tations. For the crude, rough labor of the country both in the 
shop and in the field the main reliance was upon the negroes. 
Though the cotton-mill hands were all white, great numbers 
of negroes were employed on the railroads, and in the iron 
works, tobacco factories, cotton gins, oil mills, etc. ; and they 
did most of the heavy work in the cities of the lower South. 

As for farming, fully half the crops of the South were raised 
by farmers, most of them whites, who worked their own land 
or took up farms as renters. The other half was produced by 



Labor in the South 



585 



negroes working on the plantations, raising corn, cotton, tobacco, 
rice, garden truck, and fruit. Stock raising was never a large in- 
dustry in the South. The negro's greatest success had always 
been as a farmer, but it proved very hard to adapt his labor 
to the needs of the large plantations, which by this time were 
run mostly for owners who did not live on the place. On many 




Baling Cotton in a Cotton Gin. 



such plantations the laborers were hired by the year and were 
commonly paid by a share of the crop. Cotton must be planted 
eight or ten months before the crop can be picked and sold, 
and so the laborers had to be taken care of till the crop 
was made. This obhged the employers to "make advances" 
for provisions and supplies, for which they were usually obliged 
to borrow money from banks, and thus they practically mort- 
gaged their growing crop for these loans. This system came 
hart's new amer. hist. — 36 



586 New South and Far West 

down from the time before the Civil War and was expensive 
for the owner. Moreover, if a negro broke his contract in the 
middle of the season and threw up his job, it might be impossi- 
ble to find another to take his place. 

Some unscrupulous employers found means to compel negro 
hands, and sometimes white men, to work for them against 
their will. This was called "peonage" and had to be broken 
up by prosecutions of the worst offenders. The jails and state 
prisons held large numbers of negro convicts who were often 
treated much like the former slaves. Even in communities 
which were otherwise highly civilized, the custom of "lynching" 
was practiced ; that is, persons accused of crime, usually negroes 
but often white men, were seized by mobs, and were barbarously 
killed, frequently by burning at the stake. 

371. Intellectual Growth of the South 

One of the evidences of advance in the South was a great 
improvement in education. In reconstruction times every 
southern state provided a common school system both for the 
towns and for the open country. Some states were never will- 
ing to spend enough money for good schools. Others, like 
Louisiana, built up a first-class system. The main difficulty 
was in the back country, where the children were few and the 
schools were often very poor. Another trouble was that the 
school days in the year for the country schools were often only 
about two thirds as many as in the northern states. 

For higher education new endowed universities appeared, 
such as Tulane University in New Orleans and Rice Institute 
in Houston. The state universities were brought up to a much 
higher standard, especially in Virginia, North Carolina, and 
Texas. Agricultural and mechanical colleges were built in 
every state, and they educated young men for science and 
engineering. Normal schools for men and women prepared 
the teachers of the lower schools. Southern educators took a 
high place in the national associations. Several excellent 



Intellectual Growth of the South 



587 



southern writers made a national reputation, especially Joel 
Chandler Harris and Thomas Nelson Page, who wrote on 
southern subjects. Societies like the Confederate Veterans and 
the Daughters of the Confederacy kept warm the memories 
of the Civil War. Southern statesmen in Congress and in the 
Cabinet took places alongside the eastern and western men. 

In this intellectual growth the negroes had a slender share. 
Few of them could expect higher education. The negro schools 
did not carry children 
so far as the white 
schools did. Excel- 
lent high schools for 
white boys and girls 
were opened all over 
the South, but many 
towns and cities pro- 
vided no public higher 
instruction for ne- 
groes. For their 
needs, however, spe- 
cial normal schools 
were established and 
some technical schools were provided by the states. Twenty- 
five ci thirty negro institutions existed, called colleges, mostly 
supported by gifts from the North : the most successful were 
Atlanta University, Hampton Institute in Virginia, and Tus- 
kegee in Alabama, at the head of which was Booker T. Wash- 
ington, for a long time the most eminent member of his race. 
Some two hundred private and endowed schools were founded 
for negroes. The negroes shared in the general prosperity. 
Negro business men and bankers appeared. A few negroes 
gathered together large estates of plantation land which they 
rented ; and there were always a few trained leaders who edited 
newspapers, headed negro institutions, and aroused a sense of 
the possibilities for their race. 




View on the Campus at Tuskegee. 



New South and Far West 







Oklahoma City on the Day the Land was opened to Settlement^ 
April 22, 1889. 

372. Growth of the Far West 

The South in this period was made up mostly of old settled 
communities. The far West was planted on new land, some 
of which had to be won from the Indians. In 1886 the Apaches, 
the scourges of the Southwest, who had been the most ferocious 
of the Indian enemies of the United States, were at last sub- 
dued. The next year. Congress passed the "Severalty Act" 
which offered free farms to Indians who would leave their tribes 
and become citizens. In 1889, when a great area of good farm 
land was opened for settlement in a part of Indian Territory 
(later set off as the territory of Oklahoma), the applicants 
for lands were so much more numerous than the opportunities, 
that there was a frantic rush from the border line to the in- 
terior, where the farms and town lots could be taken up. 

One of the great industries of the Southwest and part of the 
Northwest was cattle raising, which required not only grass but 
convenient water. Hence ranchmen who had possession of the 
river fronts could prevent anybody from taking up public land 
which lay behind them, and used that method to keep large 
areas of government land under their control. In some cases, 



Growth of the Far West 



589 






-^ irf5?=^ 








Oklahoma City Foxxr Weeks Later. 

they had the effrontery to fence in government land and pre- 
vent others from making use of the common advantage. 

Another source of trouble was the system of irrigating lands. 
The first comers often took up river fronts and then dug irri- 
gating canals to carry the water to the back lands. Later 
comers would take water farther up the river and thus reduce 
the flow so that the earlier farmers lost their supply of water. 
This gave rise to endless difficulties and lawsuits. 

In 1902 the government stepped in to develop the opportuni- 
ties for storing water on the public lands, so as to provide for 
irrigation. To protect government timber and keep the streams 
from drying up, the government in 1891 began to set off various 
forest reserves and national parks. 

Except the two Dakotas, which were a part of the middle 
West, and Oklahoma, which was southern, all the new states 
admitted after 1889 belonged to the far western group. They 
occupied the broad and confused mountain mass of the Rocky 
Mountains, the so-called Great Basin, the valleys of the Colo- 
rado and Columbia, and the Pacific slope. This region included 
many broad and fertile valleys, but no grassy, extended plains 
like the prairies of the middle West. Fully three fourths of this 



590 



New South and Far West 




A Gold Dredger. 



area was barren mountain or desert. Most of the coast strip 
received plenty of rain, but through eastern Washington and 
Oregon, Nevada, southern California, and the states farther 
east, lay immense areas of desolate, rainless land. Some of 

the principal railroads, 
such as the line from 
Salt Lake City to Los 
Angeles, passed for hun- 
dreds of miles through 
rocky or sandy wilder- 
nesses. The Colorado 
River had worn its way 
thousands of feet down 
below the level of a 
sterile plateau. 

Nevertheless there were many beautiful and rich spaces, such 
as the so-called "parks" of the Rocky Mountains, the Willa- 
mette valley in Oregon, and the great interior valleys of Cali- 
fornia, in which grain, vegetables, and fruit came to perfection. 
The state governments all made it a point to foster the in- 
dustries of the state, whether fisheries, grain growing, fruit 
growing, mining, or lumbering. 

373. Travel and Scenery in the Far West 

The first necessity of the scattered settlernents was railroads, 
and the local traffic was cared for by the through lines from the 
Pacific coast eastward. Besides the various land grant roads 
which reached the Pacific — the Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, 
Southern Pacific, and Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe — several 
through lines were built by private capital, particularly the 
Denver and Rio Grande and the Western Pacific ; the Great 
Northern — the work of James J. Hill — and the Milwaukee 
St. Paul and Pacific routes from Lake Superior and Lake 
Michigan to Puget Sound ; and the Oregon Short Line from 
the neighborhood of Salt Lake City to Portland. Several 



Travel and Scenery in the Far West 591 

different railroads combined to make a continuous line of 
rail from the British boundary, near Vancouver, south to San 
Diego. The Chicago and North Western and the Chicago 
BurUngton and Quincy railroads built from Chicago west- 
ward to the Rocky Mountains. 

One of the great assets of the far West is its magnificent 
natural scenery, which has for many years drawn visitors from 
all over the world. The 
Grand Canyon of the Ar- 
kansas and the canyon of 
the Feather River offer 
magnificent views from the 
car window. The whole 
Pacific coast abounds in 
picturesque cliffs and bays 
and islands and harbors. 
Among the superb areas 
reserved by the United 
States government for per- 
petual pleasure grounds, 
are the Yellowstone Na- 
tional Park in and near 
northwestern Wyoming, 
the Glacier Park on the 
Canadian border, and 
Rocky Mountain Park 
near Denver. 

The Columbia River is one of the most magnificent navigable 
streams in the world. From Mt. Shuksan in Washington to 
Mt. Shasta in northern California, there is a procession of the 
most magnificent glacier-covered volcanic peaks such as Mt. 
Rainier, otherwise called Mt. Tacoma, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. 
Helens, and Mt. Hood. The lofty Sierra Nevada does not rise 
in startling peaks, but it contains unrivaled valleys, especially 
the Yosemite, which is not to be matched in the whole world 




James J. Hill. 



592 New South and Far West 

for the height and beauty of its waterfalls, the grandeur of its 
cliffs, and the contrast between the granite mountains and the 
green wooded floor of the valley. In the neighborhood are 
several groves of the marvelous Big Trees, which rise as high as 
four hundred and sixty feet. Farther east lies the Grand Canyon 
of the Colorado, which offers the most superb natural scenery on 
earth. Instead of standing at the foot of a mountain and look- 
ing up five thousand feet, the observer stands on the brink of 
an abyss and looks down five thousand feet to the boiling river. 

374. The People or the Far West in 19 10 

In no large area of the country was the population so mixed 
as in the far West. According to the census of 19 10, 1,400,000 
persons, out of the western population of 6,800,000, were born 
outside the United States ; 1,700,000 were children of foreigners ; 
2,100,000 were born in the United States of native white stock 
but outside of the states in which they then resided. Only 
1,600,000 were born in the states in which they lived. Some 
cities, like Portland and Los Angeles, were made up chiefly of 
people who immigrated from the eastern states. Others abounded 
in foreign immigrants. For instance, in 1890 Denver contained 
forty-seven per cent foreign born or children of foreigners, and 
San Francisco contained sixty-eight per cent — more than two 
thirds. Whatever their origin, the people had a strong sense 
of pride in, and devotion to, their own states as well as a love for 
their section. They were great travelers, freely moving about 
in their own neighborhood, which might be a thousand miles wide. 
They traveled across the continent to "The States," as they 
called any place east of Denver. In the mountains, where the 
'chief industry was mining, large numbers of foreign working- 
men were found. The far West was the only part of the 
country in which there was any considerable Asiatic population. 
46,000 of the 72,000 Chinese, and 58,000 of the 72,000 Japanese 
in the United States in 1910, were living in the three states of 
Washington, Oregon, and California. Hence those states were 



The South and the West in Pohtics 



593 



the centers of the protest against admitting immigrants from 
any Asiatic country. 

The far West was very proud of its schools and universities. 
In every state there was a complete system of schools, so that 
even in the most remote mountain regions, children might have 
the opportunity of an education. Public high schools were of 
a high grade, and every state had a public university, which 
was aided by the government. The University of California 




Stadium of the Tacoma High School, Tacoma, Washington. 

was the oldest in the far West. In Washington there were 
practically two universities, one in the eastern section and one 
in the western. The agricultural, mining, and academic uni- 
versities of Colorado were situated in three towns a few miles 
apart. 

375. The South and the West in Politics 

Both the Southland the far West had interests which affected 
their point of view on poHtical questions. After reconstruc- 
tion the South was determined that the negroes should have 



594 New South and Far West 

no deciding part in elections. They were frightened away 
from the polls in some states by the Ku-Klux Klan (§321); 
later in some states, as South Carolina, perplexing laws were 
passed for the purpose of making it difficult for the negro 
to vote. 

Beginning in 1890 a new system was devised by which the 
suffrage of the negroes was much diminished : New constitu- 
tions or amendments were adopted in the seven states of North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
Virginia, and Oklahoma by which no one could vote who could 
not prove that he possessed rather difficult qualifications. He 
must show a receipted tax bill ; or prove to the satisfaction of an 
election board that he could understand clauses of the state 
constitution, or that he was descended from a person who was 
a voter before the Civil War. This last provision, the so- 
called "Grandfather clause," led to lawsuits in which the Su- 
preme Court of the United States held that such clauses were 
unconstitutional. These provisions were nominally the same 
for negro and white voters, but were intended to be so applied 
as to shut out the colored voters and leave all or nearly all the 
white men free to vote. 

Notwithstanding these precautions, the fear that the negroes 
might dominate in poUtics kept the "soHd South" (§ 337) 
together. Negroes were still allowed freely to vote in Ten- 
nessee, Florida, Texas, and Missouri, and there were some Re- 
pubHcan white voters in all the southern states. Still, not a single 
southern state chose Republican electors in 1892. Only Ken- 
tucky, Maryland, and West Virginia were Repubhcan in 1896, 
and in 191 2 and 191 6 every southern state again was Democratic. 
In Kentucky and Tennessee a Republican governor was occa- 
sionally elected, but in most cases no one in the South could 
expect to be chosen to a high state or city office except Demo- 
crats. Inasmuch as the South could be depended upon to 
vote for any Democratic candidate in national elections it was 
not thought necessary to put southern candidates on the Demo- 



Review 595 

cratic ticket either for President or for Vice President, except 
that in 1904 a West Virginia man was nominated with Bryan. 
In some parts of the South there was a strong feeling in favor 
of the tariff, especially among the cotton and iron manufacturers 
and the sugar growers of Louisiana, but it was hard to give this 
interest expression without throwing over the Democratic 
ticket. 

The far West was the home of experiments in popular govern- 
ment. The direct primary, initiative, referendum, and recall 
of ofificials, discussed in a following chapter, either began in 
the far West or were enthusiastically taken up there. From 
1-878 to 1900 the silver-producing states of the far West were 
strong advocates of free silver, and the Pacific coast was the 
seat of the movement against the immigration of Asiatics. 

376. Review 

The sections in the Union after 1885 were: New England, 
the middle states, the South, the middle West, and the far West, 
all of them on terms of intimate friendship and kinship. From 
1889 to 1896, seven new states were admitted into the Union: 
the two Dakotas, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, 
and Utah. Oklahoma was added in 1907 and New Mexico 
and Arizona in 191 2, thus making a total of forty-eight states. 

The South began to flourish again after 1885 ; it included 
about a third of the inhabitants of the United States and was 
raising immense crops of cotton and developing its resources 
of timber, oil, and farming products. Manufactures were 
developed, capital was brought in, and cities grew prosperous. 

The negroes, though not employed in textile and similar 
manufactures, did much of the rough labor and raised about 
half the crops. The South suffered from a vicious system of 
money advances to cotton growers and to laborers. Some 
attempts were made to secure forced labor from negroes and 
others by peonage. Lynchings often interfered with the course 
of justice. The southern' states built up a good system of grade 



596 New South and Far West 

schools, high schools, and universities, of which few were 
open to the negroes. 

In the far West, the Indians ceased to be troublesome. 
The question of water rights gave concern to both the stock 
holders and the farmers on irrigated land. Excellent railroads 
were built from east to west across the Rocky Mountains, 
and along the Pacific coast. These brought travelers into touch 
with the magnificent scenery of the mountains and the coast. 
Population in the far West was still sparse and included great 
numbers of foreigners. The people, however, set up an ex- 
cellent system of public education. 

In some of the southern states, laws or constitutions, includ- 
ing the "Grandfather clause," were made so as to shut out a 
great part of the negro vote. Most of the -southern states, 
united as the "solid South," usually cast theii votes for Demo- 
cratic governors, senators, and presidential electors. In the 
West many new political methods were tr^d out, and there 
was great agitation in politics. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See map, p. 578. — Brigham, Gcogr. Influ- 
ences, chs. viii-x. — Paxson, New Nation, 53. - Shepherd, Hist. Atlas, 
203. 

Secondary. Beard, Contemp. Am. Hist., ch. i. — Brown, Lower 
South, 247-271. — Cable, Negro Question. — Coman, Indust. Hist., 
307-312. — Eastman, Indian To-day. — Hart, Southern South. — 
Haworth, America in Ferment, ch. v. — Kephart, Southern Highlanders. 

— Leupp, Indian and his Problem. — Markham, California, chs. xiii-xix. — 
Murphy, Present South. — Paine, Greater America. — Paxson, N'ew 
Nation, 151-157, 192-207. — Ralph, Dixie; Great West. — Smythe, 
Conquest of Arid America. — Wilson, Am. People, V. 136-140, 199-204, 
210-214. 

Sources. Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 605, 622-629, 640- 
643, 750. — DuBois, Souls of Black Folk. — Grady, New South. — 
Harding, Select Orations, nos. 33, 34. — Herbert, Why the Solid Soidh ? 

— King, Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada. — MacDonald, Select 
Statutes, nos. 115, 116, 118, 119. — Mujr, Mountains of California. 

— Van Dyke, The Desert. — Washington, Up from Slavery. 



References and Topics 597 

Illustrative. Atherton, Ancestors. — Craddock, Prophet of the Great 
Smoky Mountains. — Chosnutt, Marrow of Tradition (negroes). — 
Dunbar, Folks from Dixie (negroes) ; Lyrics. — Foote, Chosen Valley 
(irrigation). — Moore, Bishop of Cottonto'wn. — Page, The Southerner. — 
Rayner, Handicapped among the Free. — Sanborn, A Truthful Woman in 
Southern California. — Smith, Colonel Carter. — Stewart, Letters of a 
Woman Homesteader. — Wister, Lady Baltimore. — Wright, Winning of 
Barbara Worth. 

Pictures. Century. — Collier's Weekly. — ■ Dunbar, Hist, of Travel 
in Am. — Harper's Weekly. — Independent. — Literary Digest. — 
MeKinley, Illus. Topics for A m. Hist. — Mentor, serial nos. 60, 72, 83, 92, 
n6. — National Geographic Magazine. — National Parks Portfolio. — 
Outlook. — Review of Reviews. — Survey. — World's Work. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Admission of one of the following states: North Dakota; South 
Dakota; Montana; Washington; Utah; Oklahoma. [§ 368] — 
(2) Cultivation of corn, or cotton, or wheat. [§ 369] — (3) Discoveries 
of oil in the Southwest. [§ 369] — (4) Plantation laborers: negro 
or white. [§ 370] — (5) Southern farmers: white or negro. [§ 370] — 
(6) Education in the South : common schools ; or normal schools ; or 
colleges; or state universities. [§ 371] — (7) Literary career of: Joel 
Chandler Harris; or Thomas Nelson Page; or Hopkinson Smith. 
I§ 371] — (8) Negro education in the South: common schools or col- 
leges. [§ 371] — (9) Educational career of Booker T. Washington. 
[§ 371] — (10) Account of one: national parks; national monuments; 
national forests. [§ 372] — (11) A railroad trip from the Athintic to the 
Pacific about 1900. [§ 373] — ■ (12) Grand Canyon of the Colorado. 
[§ 2,7Z\ — (13) Description of: western mining town; or western fruit 
ranch; or western summer resort. [§ 374] 

Topics for Further Search 

(14) Early northern visitors to the South. [§ 367] — - (15) Southern 
students in northern colleges. [§ 367] — (16) Southern cotton mill 
towns. [§ 369] — (17) Why are there few foreign immigrants in the 
South? [§ 370] — (18) Description of peonage. [§ 370] — (19) Tribal 
Indians in Indian Territory. [§ 372] — (20) Cattle raising in the South- 
west. [§372] 



CHAPTER XXXIV 



BROADENING OF THE GOVERNMENT (1901-1912) 



377- 



President Roosevelt 



A NEW note was struck in public affairs when Theodore 
Roosevelt became President. No man for many years had come 

to that place so free 
from obligations to 
party leaders, so little 
hampered by the politi- 
cal traditions of Con- 
gress and the White 
House. Theodore 
Roosevelt was born in 
New York in 1858, of 
Dutch, German, Irish, 
and EngUsh descent. 
He graduated from 
Harvard College in 
1880, and in 1883 was 
a member of the New 
York legislature, where 
he distinguished him- 
self as a fighter for 
cheaper fares on the 
New York elevated 
roads. Then he car- 
ried on a cattle ranch in North Dakota and wrote several books 
on open-air life and American history. 

598 




Thf.odork Roosevelt. 



Internal Affairs 599 

From 1889 to 1895 he was the leading spirit of the National 
Civil Service Commission (§ 355). For two years he was a 
PoUce Commissioner in the city of New York. In 1 897-1 898 
he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, but resigned to enter 
the army, and was one of the few men who, in the Spanish 
War, attracted popular attention by military services on land. 
The reputation thus gained practically made him governor of 
New York (1899) ; he was very outspoken and active in that 
office ; and the New York poHtical leaders thought it wise to 
shelve him by making him Vice President (1901). Roosevelt's 
distinguishing qualities in his various offices were the courage 
to hold and express an opinion for himself, quick resolution, 
firmness of decision, public criticism of opponents, and a fixed 
policy of openness and publicity in all that he did, that left no 
opportunity for private understandings and deals. 

378. Internal Affairs (1901-1904) 

For a time, President Roosevelt continued in office the Cabi- 
net left by McKinley. John Hay remained Secretary of State 
till his death in 1905, when Elihu Root of New York succeeded 
him. Gradually a new set of heads of departments came in ; 
and a new Cabinet position was created by the organization of 
the Department of Commerce and Labor (1903). Besides the 
members of the Cabinet, the President consulted with a group 
of young men who held government positions ; they were often 
called the "Tennis Cabinet." In fact the President consulted 
with everybody: with senators and representatives, with 
party leaders, with thousands of visitors to the White House. 
Having filled up- his mind with information from all sources 
he then made his decisions so swiftly and energetically that 
many people thought him impulsive. 

As a former chairman of the Civil Service Commission, 
Roosevelt was especially interested in improving the national 
pubhc service. He found 84,000 government employees in 
the "classified service," entrance to which was to be had only 



6oo Broadening of the Government 

through competitive examination. By 1904, this number 
was raised to 143,000, which was about half of all the civil 
employees of the government. Outside of this list, 7000 
officials held their places on "presidential appointments," 
which required confirmation by the Senate; and 85,000 were 
country postmasters and mail clerks, who were not considered 
subject to the reformed system. 

Roosevelt was much interested in the diplomatic and consular 
service. He made it a point to follow the unusual method of 
transferring good foreign ministers to higher diplomatic posts. 
He also began an improvement in the consular service, by keep- 
ing experienced men in their places, and in 1906 directed that 
all the higher posts in the consular service should be filled by 
promotions from lower places. 

President Roosevelt was specially confronted by a question 
which had been difficult for forty years — that of nomi- 
nating colored men for office. Such appointments were 
frequent in the northern states; but though there were 
several hundred thousand negro voters in the South, notwith- 
standing the effect of the new suffrage laws (§ 375), only a few 
responsible and well-paid offices were held by them in that 
section. Roosevelt continued the practice of nominating a 
few such men and declared in a public letter that he would 
not "shut the door of opportunity" on the members of the 
negro race. 

The President proceeded on the Jacksonian theory (§ 215) 
that he represented the people at large, and in 1902 came for- 
ward as a mediator in a great coal strike. The anthracite 
miners in eastern Pennsylvania struck for higher wages, and the 
eastern states were left without the necessary supply of fuel at 
the beginning of the winter. The state government was unable 
to deal with the matter, and there was then no national ma- 
chinery for that purpose. John Mitchell, a labor leader, worked 
for a settlement, and President Roosevelt, by consent of both 
sides, appointed an informal commission which settled the strike 



Internal Affairs 



6oi 



by arranging for an increase of wages. The price of coal rose 
in proportion. 

The great question of trusts and monopolies was still in 
confusion. A few ineffective prosecutions had been brought 
by McKinley's administration under the Sherman Antitrust Act 
of 1890 (§ 351). Roosevelt directed that other corporations 

be prosecuted, and especially 
pushed a suit to prevent the 
"merger" — that is, the con- 
solidation — of the Great North- 
ern, the Northern Pacific, and 
the Chicago Burling- 
ton and Quincy rail- 
roads which tended 
to make a monopoly 
of the railroad busi- 
ness in the North- 




Types of American Locomotives in 1S76, 1903, and 1914. 

west. The Supreme Court (1904) held that the Sherman Act 
applied to monopolies of railroads as well as to other corpora- 
tions, and quashed the merger. This decision seemed likely to 
put a stop to the consolidations of railroads. 

Meanwhile a more stringent antitrust act was passed in 
1903, under which the United States government required 
corporations which were doing any interstate business to allow 
the inspection of their accounts. It was believed that many of 
the evils of trusts and combinations would disappear if the 
trusts could be compelled to tell the public what they were 
hart's new amer. hist. — 37 



6o2 Broadening of the Government ^ 

doing. The new Department of Commerce and Labor estab- 
lished a Bureau of Corporations whose business it was to gather 
information, investigate abuses, and apply the laws. 

379. The Isthmian Canal (1898-1904) 

These changes and reforms were obscured in the public 
mind by exciting events which brought about the building of 
an Isthmian Canal, under the ownership and control of the 
United States. The voyage of the battleship Oregon in 1898, 
when it was compelled to steam 15,000 miles from San Francisco 
to join the fleet in the West Indies, called attention to the need 
of a shorter route from ocean to ocean. The French Panama 
Canal Company, after its breakdown in 1889 (§ 338), was re- 
organized and made a second attempt to complete the canal 
and thus to save the capital that had gone into -it, but again 
suspended operations in 1899. Nevertheless it held the land 
on the canal route and the concession to build ihj canal, and it 
owned the Panama Railroad. 

A rising sentiment in the United States der>.<a.nded that the 
only way to build a canal or to make a canal worth while to the 
world, was for the United States to undertake the task. The 
American Nicaragua Company (§ 338) had done little work on 
the more northern route, and asked Congress to take their 
work and concessions off their hands. In order to act intelli- 
gently Congress authorized a special commission of experts, 
and the President appointed five of the ablest engineers in the 
land. They made the first trustworthy surveys of the isthmus 
routes and reported (1900) that the United States ought to 
build on the Nicaragua route, because the French Panama 
Company would not come to any reasonable terms for the pur- 
chase of their property and rights. Between the lines it was 
clear that the commission thought the Panama route the more 
desirable one. 

A serious obstacle in the way of any American route was the 
Clayton-Bulwer treaty (§ 233) under which the British govern- 



The Isthmian Canal 603 

ment had an equal interest with the United States in any canal 
that might be built. The British in 1882 had taken possession 
of Egypt and become controlling owners of the Suez Canal ; 
and it did not seem fair that they should also control a half 
interest in an American canal. Inasmuch as during the Span- 
ish War the British government and people showed warm 
sympathy with the United States, and plainly desired to re- 
move any jealousies between the two English-speaking coun- 
tries, the United States proposed that the Clayton-Bulwer 
treaty be given up. By the Hay-Pauncefote treaty (November 
18, 1901), Great Britain agreed to make no claims to take part 
in the construction or control of the canal; in return, it was 
agreed that the tolls charged should be equal for all nations. 
So far as foreign nations were concerned, the United States was 
then free to handle the matter for itself. Public sentiment 
demanded an American canal built with the funds of the 
United States government. 

The French company offered to sell out for $40,000,000 cash. 
The only obstacle to the wishes of the United States was that 
the Panama route ran through the territory of Colombia. A 
strong movement in the United States favored settling the 
matter by taking the Nicaragua route, where the local gov- 
ernment was eager to have a canal. Congress, therefore, 
passed an act (June 28, 1902) authorizing the President to 
accept the French company's offer, provided Colombia would 
cede the control of the necessary land strip "within a rea- 
sonable time and upon reasonable terms." Otherwise he 
was directed to begin construction of the canal on the Nicaragua 
route. 

This pressure caused the government of Colombia to draw 
up and offer a treaty, by which the United States, for a stipu- 
lated payment, was to acquire the desired control over the line 
of the canal. The Colombian Congress, however, refused rati- 
fication of this treaty, either because it wanted more money, 
or because it expected the French grant to lapse so that the 



Atlant/c Ocean 




liiRD's-EYE View of the Panama Canal and th^e Canal Zone. 

604 



Internal Affairs 605 

$40,000,000 would go to Colombia. About six weeks later an 
insurrection broke out in Panama, which was then a state of 
the United States of Colombia. The insurrection would have 
probably failed but for the presence of United States marines, 
who headed off the Colombian troops. A republic of Panama 
was set up (November 3, 1903). Within three days, the re- 
public was recognized by the United States, and later by Euro- 
pean nations. The new government of Panama hastened to 
negotiate a treaty on the same lines as that with Colombia 
(February, 1904). It ceded a "Canal Zone" ten miles wide in 
which the United States was to have sovereign control. The 
United States paid $10,000,000 down and agreed to pay 
$250,000 a year to Panama. Having thus prepared the way, 
the President appointed civilian engineers, put them in charge, 
and urged them to "make the dirt fly." 

380. Internal Affairs (1904-1908) 

When the Panama question was thus settled to the mind of 
the government, the two main political parties prepared for the 
presidential election of 1904. Roosevelt was renominated by 
the Republicans without opposition. The Democratic party 
was divided between the Free Silverites headed by Bryan, and 
those who were ready to accept the gold standard as permanent. 
The latter were able to control the nominating convention and 
to nominate Judge Alton B. Parker of New York, who stood 
distinctly on the gold basis. 

The currency question being thus out of the way, the main 
issues of the campaign were "Imperialism" (which meant 
the question of the Philippines), the tariff, and the relation of 
the two great parties to the trusts. In the election. Judge 
Parker carried the "solid South" except Missouri and one 
elector in Maryland. Roosevelt carried all the other states in 
the Union, and had 336 electoral votes to 140, and a popular 
plurality of about 2,500,000 votes. The Socialist candidate, 
Eugene V. Debs, received 400,000 votes; the People's party 



6o6 Broadening of the Government 

candidate, Thomas E. Watson, had 120,000 votes; and the 
Prohibition candidate, Silas Swallow, had 260,000 votes. 

The population was growing and the country was very 
prosperous. Even the loss of $400,000,000 worth of property 
in a great fire at San Francisco following an earthquake (April 
18, 1906) did not check the general growth of business. In 
spite of the laws regulating railroads (§ 350) it was found hard 
to secure convictions of railroads or their officials for the giving 
of special rates, or rebates from the regular rates, to favored 
shippers. The President, therefore, urged upon Congress an 
act which was finally passed (June 29, 1906) as the " Hepburn 
Act," bestowing larger powers on the Interstate Commerce 
Commission, increasing the number of commissioners to seven, 
fixing new penalties for the offense of allowing special rates to 
anybody, and abolishing free passes — all applying of course 
only to interstate or foreign traffic. 

One of the most important lines of business in the country 
was the preparation of food products on a large scale, including 
enormous quantities of tinned meats, fruits, and vegetables. 
Some states passed laws for inspecting meats, and a popular 
novelist roused the whole country by describing in lurid fashion 
the dirt and carelessness in certain packing houses where dressed 
meats were put up. The result of this popular interest was an 
act of Congress (June 30, 1906), which was based on the right 
of Congress ''to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and 
among the several states." By this statute all manufacturers 
of meat products must have their products inspected and 
marked by federal officials, in case they were intended for ship- 
ment outside the state. Akin to this act was the Pure Food 
Act of the same date, which forbade the carrying of food prod- 
ucts, drugs, liquors, etc. from one state to another unless they 
bore labels showing their real nature and the proportion of alco- 
hol or narcotics. Many states passed similar pure food laws 
for intrastate business. These acts showed that both national 
and state governments were infused with a new idea of what 



World Politics 607 

ought to be done for the health and safety of the people. They 
showed also that Congress, through its power over interstate 
commerce, could bring about a fairly uniform system in such 
matters as pure food products. 

381. World Politics (1905-1909) 

Ever since the Spanish War the people of the United States 
felt that they had a place as a great power, which ought to 
share in settUng the world questions of the time. An evidence 
of the respect felt for this country by foreign nations was the 
agreement of Russia and Japan, after a year's warfare in 
Korea and Manchuria, to accept President Roosevelt's sug- 
gestion that they attempt to make peace on American soil. 
The result was the Treaty of Portsmouth (September, 1905), 
which ended the war. 

In 1906 the United States sent a diplomatic representative 
to the conference of Algeciras (Spain), which was held to de- 
cide questions in dispute between France and Germany con- 
cerning the control of Morocco. The weight of American 
influence was thrown toward a peaceful settlement, and a con- 
vention was negotiated in which both countries made con- 
cessions. Germany's ambition to increase her colonial empire, 
as shown by her fruitless efforts to secure a foothold in Morocco, 
was one of the causes of the Great War which began in 19 14. 

Nearer home, the United States took a more direct and im- 
portant part in several international affairs. Trouble arose in 
1902 over the relations between Venezuela on one side and 
Germany, Great Britain, and Italy on the other. Subjects of 
these three powers had claims against the Venezuelan govern- 
ment for destruction of property, or personal injuries. Since 
they could get no satisfaction in any other way, the three govern- 
ments gave notice that they would send fleets to collect the bill. 
This was very unwelcome to the United States, and President 
Roosevelt insisted that Germany give a pledge not to land on 
Venezuelan soil. The fleets, therefore, did nothing but blockade 



6o8 Broadening of the Government 

harbors and capture a few coasters. Venezuela gave way so 
far as to consent to arbitrate the claims before the Hague 
Court which had been set up by the peace conference of 1890 

(§365). 

The Cuban government established in 1902 (§ 363) continued 
after the departure of the American troops, till in 1906 a revolu- 
tion broke out. The regular government under President Palma 
could not protect itself, and the only way to keep order was 
for the United States, acting under the Piatt Amendment, 
to take control of the country for a time. A provisional gover- 
nor, Magoon, was appointed from Washington, and acted till 
it was announced that an orderly government was again in 
force, whereupon the United States troops for the second time 
withdrew (1909). 

The naval power of the United States was made prominent by 
a voyage of sixteen battleships and some smaller vessels around 
the world (i 907-1 909) — the first voyage of the kind ever 
made by so powerful a fleet. On the other hand the delegates 
of the United States to the second Hague Conference (1907) 
took a strong position for peace and aided in framing and ap- 
proving several conventions which it was hoped would prevent 
wars from breaking out and would take away much of their 
horror if they did occur. In this meeting, as in that of 1899, 
the American representatives secured a statement that noth- 
ing in the conventions should be taken to affect the '' traditional 
policy of the United States"; and that phrase was understood 
to mean the Monroe Doctrine (§ 193). 

382. Applying the Monroe Doctrine (1902-1913) 

The Venezuelan difficulty is closely connected with the objec- 
tions of the United States to foreign influence in America, to 
which the name Monroe Doctrine is usually applied. The 
affair brought out that it was very inconvenient and undesirable 
for foreign fleets to use force in American waters. On the 
other hand, what was to be done when some weak American 



Applying the Monroe Doctrine 6oq 

powers failed to protect foreigners resident in their borders 
and declined to pay damages if they were ill treated ? Was there 
any effective remedy except to occupy their territory? 

When in 1906 there was another of the many poHtical up- 
heavals in the repubhc of Santo Domingo, the administration 
at Washington was sure that some European power was about 
to interfere in behalf of its citizens. President Roosevelt made 
up his mind that the only way to prevent trouble was for the 
United States to step in, restore order, and guarantee the pay- 
ment of just debts. He therefore landed a force, made a treaty 
with the men who happened to be in control of the little re- 
public, and put an American official into the customhouse to 
coUect the money and take out enough to pay the interest on 
the debt of Santo Domingo and eventually to pay the principal. 
After a long delay the Senate of the United States ratified the 
treaty and thus gave its approval to this method of dealing 
with Latin American states. Since Panama and Cuba were 
practically no longer sovereign, but protectorates of the 
United States, the United States then had three dependencies 
besides Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. President 
Roosevelt stated this new form of the Monroe Doctrine in 
several messages and speeches. He virtually promised Europe 
that the United States would undertake to set to rights any 
American power against which there were just grievances. 
Such a course would make it unnecessary for European powers 
to intervene. This is the policy of "the international police- 
man" or "the big stick." The same policy was followed out 
in the next administration by President Taft, who negotiated a 
treaty with Nicaragua similar to that with Santo Domingo. 

The Panama Canal had a close connection with the Monroe 
Doctrine, since it would be a new bond of communication and 
influence with the Central American and South American 
states. For some time the construction lagged, because the 
American engineers had to contend with the dreadful unhealth- 
fulness of the isthmus. Fortunately, skilled American medical 



6io Broadening of the Government 

men in Cuba had discovered that yellow fever is' carried by a 
mosquito, and it was already known that malaria is carried 
by another mosquito. Acting on this knowledge, Colonel 
Gorgas was put in charge of the sanitary conditions of the 
working force. On his recommendation, all the underbrush 
was cut along the line of the canal, for about half a mile back 
on each side, and a pure water supply was introduced. The 
result was that the engineers and laborers on the canal were as 
free from disease as anybody else in the world. In 1907 Major 
George W. Goethals of the United States army was made chief 
engineer of the canal; and under the management of army 
oihcers the work was carried on rapidly. The original plan of 
a sea level canal from ocean to ocean was changed to a lock 
canal, with a great central lake. 

383. Conservation (1909-1913) 

For many years it had been the policy of the United States 
government to get rid of the public lands as fast as possible. 
The old Preemption Act of 1841 (§ 239) was repealed, but under 
the Homestead Act of 1862, great quantities of land went directly 
into the hands of farmers. The land grants to the railroads 
and to the states, besides tracts supposed to be unfit for farm- 
ing, passed into the hands of capitalists. By 1901 there was 
very little government land left that was available for farm- 
ing, though Uncle Sam still owned hundreds of thousands of 
square miles of desert and mountain and forested areas. Much 
of this land was valuable for its timber, its coal and other min- 
erals, its oil and its water powers, which became useful through 
the invention of systems for transmitting electric power to long 
distances. 

The idea naturally sprang up that these advantages ought 
not to be allowed to pass into the hands of speculators or even 
investors; that they were immense bounties of nature which 
somehow ought to be saved for the public benefit. The sys- 
tem of saving them came to be called " conservation." 



Conservation 



6ii 



(i) Forests. To preserve the forests, the government adopted 
the method of "forest reserves" (beginning in 1891). Large 
areas which either bore trees or were probably capable of 
bearing trees, were taken out of the land available for settle- 
ment and kept as permanent public tracts. A system of for- 
estry was developed which kept down fires, prevented the cut- 
ting of timber without leave from the government, and began 
to reforest areas that needed it. A main argument for these 
reserves was that the forests held heaxy rains and thus pro- 




National 
forests 
National 



National Forests and Parks. 

tected the sources of navigable rivers and prevented floods. This 
argument was applied to the Appalachian mountain ranges 
in 191 1, when Congress appropriated $6,000,000 to buy for- 
est lands in that region; by 1915, 1,285,000 acres were thus 
acquired, principally in the White Mountains and southern 
mountains. 

(2) Minerals. The government had a system of selling ledges 
contatining valuable ore to those who could mine them, usually 
in very small tracts. If land was sold as farm land, timber 
land, or for any other purpose, and coal or any other minerals 



6l2 



Broadening of the Government 



were subsequently discovered, those riches belonged to the 
owner of the soil. Sharp speculators would locate many blocks 
of land through employees or dummies, and thus hold large 
tracts for the sake of the minerals they contained. In 1910, 
Congress passed an act by which farm lands could be sold, re- 
serving as government property the coal and other minerals 
beneath the surface. Great pains were taken to prevent the 
coal deposits in Alaska from falling into the hands of private 
owners. 

(3) Water powers. It had been the practice all over the 
Union for the man who could buy or homestead a waterfront, 

to take possession 
of the water powers 
that might exist 
there. In 1910 the 
government took 
the precaution to 
reserve a large 
number of water 
powers on the pub- 
lic domain until 
some general law 
should be passed, 
by which they 
could be kept as 
government prop- 
Western Irrigation Projects. ^^.^y^ ^nd could be 

leased to those who were best able to develop them. 

(4) Irrigation. In parts of the West and far West, some 
lands could be made rich and productive by bringing irrigation 
water to them. Many such privileges were taken up by in- 
dividuals or land companies. By the Newlands Act (1902), 
Congress adopted the policy of spending whatever money was 
received for public lands in certain states, for the building of 
irrigation works. The land served by these new systems was 




President Taft 613 

to be sold in small tracts, at prices which were intended to 
pay for the works. This poUcy required the government to 
hold the stretches of the mountain streams necessary for filling 
the reservoirs, and to use the water power drained from these 
dams. 

384. President Taft (1909-1913) 

Few of the questions agitated during the two terms of Pres- 
ident Roosevelt (1901-1909) divided Congress on party lines. 
Public sentiment called for such measures as the Pure Food 
Act and acts for regulating railroads and other corporations, 
and the only question was how far-reaching they should be. 
The President looked upon himself as the representative of 
the people at large (§ 378) and he had the habit of writing 
messages to Congress and expressing his mind in conversa- 
tions, upon what he considered to be the duty of Congress. 
In numerous instances he thus compelled Congress to follow 
his lead. Many people believed that Roosevelt could have 
been reelected in 1908, but he made no effort to secure a third 
term, and threw his influence in favor of William H. Taft, then 
Secretary of War. 

In the campaign (1908) there were no very distinct party issues. 
The currency issue had faded out. As for the tariff, both of 
the great parties favored a revision of the Dingley tariff of 
1S97 (§ 361), against which there was rising opposition in 
the West. William J. Bryan was for the third time the Demo- 
cratic candidate, and carried the "sohd South" and four 
western states, with a total of 162 electoral votes. Taft re- 
ceived 321 electoral votes and a pluraHty of 1,270,000 popular 
votes. The Sociahst vote rose to 420,000 and the Prohibition 
vote was 250,000. 

William H. Taft was a man of wide and varied experience. 
He served the pubHc, first as judge of a United States court in 
Ohio ; then as Governor General of the Philippines, where he 
had a large part in framing the successful insular government 



6i4 Broadening of the Government 

(§ 362) ; then as Secretary of War, where he was still in charge 
of the Philippine administration. As President he carried out 

many of the policies 
of previous Presidents, 
particularly the regu- 
lation of corporations 
and transportation and 
the reform of the fed- 
eral service. 

President Taft at 
once after his inaugu- 
ration summoned Con- 
gress to meet in special 
session for the purpose 
of revising the tariff. 
The members of his 
party disagreed as to 
whether the promise 
to revise meant to 
"revise downward . " 
Eventually a meas- 
ure called the Payne- 
Aldrich tariff was passed (1909) ; it reduced some duties and 
somewhat increased others, especially on cotton goods. Presi- 
dent Taft signed the measure and afterwards presented it as 
" the best tariff bill that has been passed." To make up for any 
possible loss of revenue, Congress added to the bill a tax of one per 
cent on the net earnings of corporations having a net income 
above $5000 a year. This tightened the hold of the adminis- 
tration on corporations, because they were obUged to make state- 
ments of their transactions to serve as the basis for the tax. 

385. Progressive Republican Movement (1910-1912) 

Though the RepubHcan party seemed firmly seated in the 
national government, serious differences of opinion arose in 




William H. Taft. 



Progressive Republican Movement 615 

several states and made their appearance in Congress. Some 
of the RepubUcans were greatly disappointed by the Payne- 
Aldrich tariff. Others were angered by what they thought to 
be high-handed methods of Joseph G. Cannon, who since 1903 
had been Speaker of the House of Representatives. They ac- 
cused him of refusing to grant committee appointments and 
other favors to Republican members who did not agree with 
him. Another group of dissatisfied Republicans was headed 
by Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin, who had defied and finally 
beaten the old-time heads of the party in his state ; after being 
governor he was elected to the United States Senate (1910), 
and there he defied the traditions of that august body. 

The members of Congress who joined in this movement, which 
grew to be a revolt, were called by their enemies "insurgents," 
but they called themselves "Progressives" or "Progressive 
Republicans." The regular Republicans, who had control of 
the national committee and of most of the state committees 
of the party, were called "Standpatters." In March, 1910, 
about forty insurgents joined with the Democrats in voting to 
take away some of the most important powers of the Speaker. 
Other Standpatters lost their seats in Congress or decHned to 
stand for reelection. 

In 191 1, a struggle arose over an act of Congress offering fav- 
orable trade to Canada. President Taft favored it and pushed 
it through Congress, but the Canadians refused to accept it. 
A special Tariff Commission was appointed, to find out if 
possible the difference of cost in making goods in the United 
States, as against that of other countries. It reported in favor 
of the lowering of certain wool duties ; but the President vetoed 
the bills on that subject passed by Congress. 

Taft urged the strengthening of the Interstate Commerce 
Commission ; and, following his lead. Congress gave the com- 
mission larger powers and placed the Pullman car service and 
the private express companies under its authority to investi- 
gate and alter rates (June 18, 19 10). The President also set on 



6i6 Broadening of the Government 

foot prosecutions of some of the largest corporations, on the 
charge that they were not. observing the Sherman Antitrust Act. 
This resulted in a decision of the Supreme Court (191 2) against 
the Standard Oil Company and American Tobacco Company. 
Both were held to be guilty of "restraint of trade and monopo- 
lization," by their practical control of two great lines of busi- 
ness. They were ordered to break up the holding companies 
into which they were divided, after which they might continue 
their regular business under their former charters. The deci- 
sion included the "rule of reason"; that is, the Court said 
that it was not reasonable to suppose that the Sherman Act of 
1890 applied to corporations which did not set up a monopoly 
dangerous to the public interests. 

The administration of President Taft thus followed in the 
same line as that of President Roosevelt, in pressing steadily 
for stronger acts of Congress against fraud and monopoly in 
business ; in inviting Congress to enlarge the powers of the 
courts and the Interstate Commerce Commission, so as to regu- 
late business and especially corporations; and in urging suits 
before the Supreme Court intended to compel corporations to 
live up to the laws as understood by the federal government. 

386. Review 

When Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United 
States in 1901, the country was ready for novelties in govern- 
ment, foreign policy, and economic organization. The President 
placed many more federal employees in the classified service. 
He urged Congress to improve the consular service, and mediated 
a coal strike in Pennsylvania. He successfully pushed a suit 
against railroad consolidation, and began to investigate cor- 
porations. 

On the Isthmian Canal an ofl&cial commission reported (1900) 
that the United States ought to control such a canal. Great 
Britain gave up the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 and the 
United States was left free to act. A treaty was negotiated 



References 617 

with Colombia for a canal through Panama; but the Colom- 
bian Congress refused to ratify. A RepubUc of Panama, set 
up by revolution, agreed to a canal treaty. 

In 1904, Roosevelt was reelected, over Judge Parker of New 
York, the Democratic candidate. Congress passed several 
new acts enabling the Interstate Commerce Commission to 
deal more effectively with the railroads, and providing for 
sanitary meat packing and pure food and drugs. 

In 1902, President Roosevelt objected to foreign powers 
taking any territory of Venezuela. The United States acted 
as a kind of mediator between Japan and Russia in 1905. The 
conditions in Cuba led to an occupation of that republic (1906- 
1909). The United States was active in the Second Hague 
Conference of 1907, and advanced the Monroe Doctrine to 
new applications. Panama and Santo Domingo practically 
became dependencies. 

Under a new policy of conservation, the government set up 
forest reserves, held back part of the minerals under the surface 
of farming lands, held up water powers, and provided for irriga- 
tion on a large scale. 

William H. Taft was urged as Roosevelt's successor, and he 
was elected in 190S by the Republicans, over W. J. Bryan, the 
Democratic candidate. He continued the policy of regulation 
of transportation and corporations. He approved of the Payne- 
Aldrich tariff of 1909. "Progressive Republicans" arose who 
opposed the "Standpatters." The powers of the Interstate 
Commerce Commission were still further advanced. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See maps, pp. 6ii, 612. — Bogart, Econ. 
Hist., 371, 490, 511. — Coman, Indust. Hist., 350, 384, 388, 394, 404. — 
Hart, Am. Ideals, 46, 240, 264. — Latane, Am. as a World Power, 200, 
210, 274. — Paxson, New Nation, 77, 120, 153. 

Secondary. Bassett, U.S., 817-S22, 825-843, 849-852. — Beard, 
Contemp. Am. Hist., chs. ix-xii. — Bogart, Econ. Hist., chs. xxxii, 
xxxiii. — Coolidge, U. S. as a World Power, chs. x-xvi. — Coman, 
hart's new amer. hist. — 38 



6i8 Broadening of the Government 

Indust. Hist., ch. xi. — De Witt, Progressive Movement, pts. i, ii. — 
Duncan- Clark, Progressive Movement. — Edwards, Panama, chs. xxix- 
xxxiv. — Fish, Am. Dipl., 429-453 ; Am. Nationality, 496-514, 517-531. 

— Hart, Monroe Doctrine, 214-242. — Haworth, Reconstruction and 
Union, ch. ix. — Johnson, Panama Canal, chs. viii-xviii. — Latane, 
Am. as a World Power, chs. xi-xvi, xviii. — Laughlin, Indust. America. 

— Paxson, New Nation, 283-335. — Thayer, John Hay, II, chs. 
xxviii-xxxi. — Van Hise, Conservation. — Washburn, Roosevelt, chs. 
ii, iii, V. 

Sources. Am. Year Book, 1910 to 1912. — Beard, Readings, 
§§ 105, 149-153. — Bogart and Thompson, Readings, 598-853 passim. 

— Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life, II, chs. xxxv-xlviii. — International 
Year Book, 1907 to 191 2. — James, Readings, §§ loi, 102, 104. — Orth, 
Readings. — Roosevelt, Autobiography, chs. x-xv. 

Illustrative. Dillon, The Leader. — ■ Gale, Friendship Village (Middle 
West). — Grant, Chippendales. — Hurt, Scarlet Shadow (labor). 
Kctures. Mentor, serial no. 15. — See also references to ch. xxxiii. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Theodore Roosevelt as a boy and young man. [§377] — (2) Public 
services of one of the following public men: Roosevelt; Root [§ 378]; 
Parker; Debs [§ 380]; Cannon; LaFollette. [§ 385] — (3) Formation 
of the republic of Panama. [§ 379] — (4) The Canal Zone. [§ 379] — 
(5) Election of 1904 [§ 380], or, of 1908. [§ 384] — (6) San Francisco fire. 
[§ 380] — (7) Occupation of Santo Domingo, 1906. [§ 382] — (8) Con- 
struction of the Panama Canal. [§ 382] — (9) Forest reserves in the 
East. [§ 383] — (10) Debates on the Payne-Aldrich tariff. [§ 384] 

Topics for Further Search 

(11) What is the "classified service"? [§ 378] — (12) Anthracite 
strike and settlement. [§ 378] — (13) French Panama Canal Company. 
[§379] — (14) What is the need of pure food laws? [§ 380] — 
(15) Blockade of the Venezuelan ports. [§ 381] — (16) Second Hague 
Peace Conference. [§ 381] — (17) Effects of the Newlands Act. [§ 383] 

— (18) Proposed reciprocity with Canada. [§ 385] 



CHAPTER XXXV 
THE UNITED STATES AS A WORLD POWER (1912-1917) 

387. Political Methods 

Behind the controversies in Congress, the White House, and 
the Supreme Court, behind the Progressive movement, was 
a feehng of unrest which showed itself all over the country. 
The great political parties were managed by small groups of 
men, some of them holding state or national ofhce, others without 
any official connection with the government. In some states, 
notably New York and Pennsylvania, single " bosses " practically 
nominated the candidates, dictated the platforms, and made the 
appointments to office. In others, railroads and public service 
corporations were in alliance with bosses and saw to it that no- 
body was nominated to any important office who was unfavor- 
able to them. The principal difficulties of the political system 
' were the following : 

(i) Nomination of candidates hy local and state conventions, 
sometimes under the absolute control of a single man. This 
led to the so-called "direct primary," beginning in Wisconsin 
in 1903. By this system the members of each party vote at 
special elections conducted by the state authorities, for the per- 
son whom they desire to see nominated for a particular office. 
The man who receives the most votes on his party ticket is 
then entered on the ballot as the only candidate of his party 
at the regular election. This reform applies especially to state 
and local officers, but in some states the members of each 
party can vote on the selection of candidates for President. 

(2) Lack of responsibility of members of the legislature. In 
some states, bosses or corporations could control a majority 

619 



620 The United States as a World Power 

of the state legislature, and could thus secure acts against 
which there was strong popular sentiment. A system of "ref- 
erendum " — that is, appeal to the popular vote — had been 
familiar for many years in votes on state constitutions, on the 
issuing of liquor licenses, and other matters. In several states 
it was now applied to any legislative acts, on petition of a certain 
number of votes. To meet the case of a legislature which will 
not pass measures that it is supposed the electorate wants, 
the "initiative" was contrived, by which a certain number of 
voters can place on the ballot the text of a statute which they 
desire and have that voted upon without referring it to the 
legislature at all, 

(3) Weak city governments. Many of the city governments 
were clumsy and weak. Hence a movement to simplify and 
strengthen them began at Galveston, Texas, in 1901. Under 
this " commission " plan, the whole government of a city is 
placed in the hands of a board of commissioners, usually five, 
who act both as a city council to make ordinances and as an 
executive board to carry them out. This puts all the affairs 
of the city in the control of a few persons, who presumably are 
known to the electors. 

(4) Campaign expenses. Though the expense of print- 
ing ballots and holding elections was borne by the states, large 
sums were raised and spent by candidates and party committees. 
Most of the money went for public meetings, bands, speakers, 
and "getting out the vote." Some was used for bribing voters. 
To meet this evil, laws were passed by most states and by 
Congress limiting the amounts that might be spent and com- 
pelling managers to file statements of their accounts. 

(5) Irresponsibility of officers. Sometimes mayors, members 
of commissions, governors, or other ofiicers performed acts 
which their constituents did not wish. Therefore, several 
states, beginning with California, now allow a certain number 
of voters to place upon the ballot the question whether a par- 
ticular official shall be "recalled" — that is, deprived of his 



Presidential Election of 1912 621 

office — so that some one may be elected who does represent 
the majority. In a few states, judges can be recalled. 

None of the new methods of government have worked per- 
fectly. The direct primary brings forward many small men as 
candidates, and public men miss the advantage of personal 
acquaintance through conventions. The initiative and refer- 
endum lead to putting so many different propositions on the 
ballot that it is hard to secure the voters' attention. Com- 
mission government proved so popular that by 1916 there were 
about 400 cities and villages in which it was established ; and a 
still more concentrated plan of "city manager" was devised, 
by which the greater part of the government of a city may be 
placed in the hands of a single man, selected for his skill in city 
government. Publicity of campaign expenses has been avoided 
in many cases by tricks and evasion. The recall works irregu- 
larly and there is some danger that judges may be recalled 
simply because they make decisions according to their con- 
victions. Long experience has shown that no political method 
will do much good, unless the voters take an interest in their 
own public affairs. 

388. Presidential Election of 191 2 

In general, the Progressive Republicans in Congress and in 
the states supported these new ideas in government and also 
more stringent regulation of railroads and other corporations 
(§ 378). They brought their views to a test in the Repub- 
lican national convention of June, 191 2, where President Taft 
had the support of most of the Standpat party leaders for 
renomination, and Theodore Roosevelt was the candidate of 
the Progressive Republicans. 

Many rival sets of Taft delegates and Roosevelt delegates 
appeared, claiming to be the properly elected representatives 
of the same districts. Most of these contests were settled in 
favor of the Taft men, who proved to have a majority in the 
convention and renominated their candidate. The supporters of 



622 The United States as a World Power 

Roosevelt insisted that their man had been deprived of votes that 
justly belonged to him, and called another convention, which 
adopted the name of Progressive party, nominated Roosevelt, 
and drew up a platform calling for social and political reforms. 

The Democratic convention had before it as candidates 
Champ Clark of Missouri, Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives, and Woodrow Wilson, then governor of New Jersey. 
After seven days and forty-six ballots, the deadlock between 
these candidates was broken by the choice of Woodrow Wilson, 
chiefly through the influence of William J. Bryan, who had great 
power in the convention. 

The resulting election was the most exciting for many years. 
Taft received about 3,500,000 popular votes, and 8 electoral 
votes; Roosevelt received 4,120,000 popular votes and 88 
electoral votes; Wilson received 6,300,000 popular votes, and 
435 electoral votes, and was elected. Both branches of the 
Congress which would sit from 1913 to 1915 showed Democratic 
majorities. 

389. President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1917) 

President Wilson, in his speeches during the campaign, set 
forth ideas of government which were very close to those of the 
Progressive party. He scored the bosses, protested against the 
usual methods of state legislation, and declared that the trusts 
"are so great that it is almost an open question whether the 
government of the United States can dominate them or not." In 
selecting his Cabinet, he made Bryan Secretary of State as being, 
next to the President, the most distinguished member of the party. 

Woodrow Wilson was born at Staunton, Virginia, in 1856, 
the son of a southern family. He was educated at Princeton 
and at Johns Hopkins University, practiced law a short time, 
and became a professor of history at several colleges. He 
was one of the first writers to point out the weakness of the 
committee system in Congress. In 1902 he became president 
of Princeton University and a recognized leader in education. 



President Woodrow Wilson 



623 



In 1 9 10 he was elected as a Democratic governor of New Jersey, 
where he secured bills for direct primaries, a state commission 
on corporations, and other measures of a progressive kind. His 
success in this office led to his nomination for President. 

Wilson had a re- 
markable gift of vig- 
orous speaking and 
writing, was a good 
campaigner, and his 
messages and state 
papers were always to 
the point. In addi- 
tion to the members 
of his Cabinet — now 
ten in number by 
the separation of the 
Department of Com- 
merce and Labor 
into two depart- 
ments (1913) — Presi- 
dent Wilson had a 
few confidential ad- 
visers, something Hke 
Roosevelt's " Tennis 
Cabinet" (§ 378). 
■With these excep- 
tions, he sought ad- 
vice from few people; and he made his own decisions. He 
carried on the methods of his predecessors in forcing the atten- 
tion of Congress to measures which he thought necessary, and 
went a little further by going in person to the halls of Congress 
and making addresses there — thus reviving the practice of 
Presidents Washington and Adams — instead of sending in 
written messages. He was very successful in bringing his party 
friends in both houses to see the force of his ideas. 




Woodrow Wilson. 



624 The United States as a World Power 

390. Banks, Tariff, and Corporations (1913-1917) 

The two old questions of the protective tariff and national 
banks, which had been discussed for nearly a hundred years, 
came straight to the front again in Wilson's administration. 

(i) At once he called Congress in special session, to pass a 
new tariff, which was introduced by Oscar W. Underwood of 
Alabama, as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. 
This tariff was intended first of aU to produce revenue, then to 
discourage monopolies. The main manufactures which were 
not monopohstic received moderate protection, but the time 
seemed to have come for a large export trade in manufactured 
goods, so that less protection was needed. Most of the Re- 
publicans opposed the bill and it was very difficult to get the 
Democrats to act together ; but this Underwood tariff became 
law October 3, 191 3. 

(2) Alongside the tariff discussion went a long debate on 
the reorganization of the national banks, which took the form 
of an immense central bank directed by a Federal Reserve 
Board, and subdivided into twelve regional Reserve Banks. 
The bill was signed December 23, 1913, and was called the 
Owen-Glass Federal Reserve bill, from the two Congressmen 
who steered it through the Senate and the House. 

The President also urged new and stricter legislation against 
the trusts, and with some difficulty induced Congress to pass 
an act (September 26, 1914) for a Federal Trade Commission. 
The main purpose was to prevent "unfair methods of competi- 
tion in commerce." A few weeks later (October 15) was passed 
the Clayton Antitrust Act, " to supplement existing laws against 
unlawful restraints and monopolies." Among other things it 
forbade any one to sell goods on condition that the purchaser 
should not buy anything of other firms in the same line ; and 
prohibited "holding companies" so far as they tended to make a 
monopoly. 

These statutes were the high-water mark of an agitation that 



Constitutional Amendments 625 

had been going on ever since the first Interstate Commerce 
Act of 1887 (§ 350). They went about as far as laws could 
usefully go in curbing transportation companies, banks, and 
other great corporations. The states also set up pubUc utility 
commissions, or corporation commissions, to deal with concerns 
that were doing a business within the limits of one state and 
therefore did not come under the regulating acts of Congress. 
This left in many cases what Roosevelt called "the twilight 
zone," in which neither the Union nor the state had sufficient 
power. Still the country began to feel that enough laws had 
been passed on that subject, and that the great corporations, 
and especially the railroads, were so tied up that it was hard for 
them to render good service. 

391. Constitutional Amendments (1909-1913) 

An objection to lowering the tariff was that the government 
needed the revenue. To meet this point, in 1894 the Wilson 
tariff act contained a clause for taxing incomes, but this 
clause was held void by the Supreme Court (§ 343). The long 
discussion of banks and corporations again called attention to 
the immense amount of interest-bearing securities held in the 
eastern states. Hence it became possible to secure a two-thirds 
majority in both Houses of Congress in 1909, for a Sixteenth 
Amendment to the Constitution authorizing Congress to lay an 
income tax. It was accepted by the necessary three fourths of 
the states by February, 1913. The Underwood tariff contained 
a clause taxing all incomes above $3000 a year (or $4000 for 
married couples), with higher rates for incomes above $20,000. 

A Seventeenth Amendment was added in May, 1913, which 
transferred the election of United States senators from the 
legislatures to the voters of each state, acting directly. 

Congress was also strongly urged to adopt an amendment 
granting suffrage throughout the Union to women, but the prop- 
osition was voted down in both houses. The first territory or 
state to grant equal suffrage to women was Wyoming in 1869; 



626 The United States as a World Power 

and by 191 7 constitutional provisions gave them the vote in 
eleven states, and they also received it by act of the legisla- 
ture in Alaska Territory and (for most offices) in Illinois, In- 
diana, and North Dakota. Besides these states, about twenty 
others gave some sort of limited suffrage to women. 

Pressure was applied to Congress for a national amendment 
prohibiting the sale of alcohohc hquors. In August, 1917, 
the liquor traflSc was stringently regulated by Congress, as 
a war measure. Down to 191 7 there were twenty-three 
states in which this traffic was prohibited, besides many others 
in which cities, counties, or separate municipalities might 
refuse to grant a license if the majority of the voters so desired. 

392. Relations with Mexico (1913-1917) 

' When President Wilson came into ofiice, he found a war 
going on in Mexico. General Porfirio Diaz, who had for about 
thirty years been the dictator of that country, was forced out of 
office by a revolution headed by Madero (1911). Two years 
later President Madero was deposed and imprisoned by General 
Huerta ; and then, while in the custody of Huerta's officials, 
was murdered (February, 1913). Civil war was renewed. 
Thousands of Americans and hundreds of millions of American 
property in Mexico sorely needed protection by somebody. 

President Wilson refused to recognize Huerta, on the ground 
that there was no evidence that the Mexicans wanted him for 
their president. Carranza and Villa raised a force of friends 
of the former Madero government, and after several defeats 
Huerta withdrew (July, 1914). 

Not only Americans but many other foreigners were caught 
in Mexico, and some of them were murdered by Villa or by other 
insurgents or bandits. The United States was unwilling that 
any other power should enter Mexico, and used its influence for 
the protection of all non-Mexicans who were in that country. 
In April, 1914, Wilson thought it necessary to send a military 
expedition to Vera Cruz. The troops remained several months 



^ Policy of Dependencies 627 

and then withdrew without accompHshing anything in particu- 
lar. Meanwhile Villa made war on Carranza, but was de- 
feated. After much negotiation with the representatives of the 
A. B. C. powers (Argentina, Brazil, and Chile), Carranza was 
recognized in 1915 as head of the republic of Mexico, although 
parts of the country were still held by bandits. 

In 1916, an attack on the American town of Columbus, by 
Villa, caused the government to send a force of about 15,000 
men under General Pershing into Mexico to hunt for the 
bandit. When Carranza protested, 150,000 militia were called 
out and stationed on the border, but a few months later both 
forces were withdrawn without reaching Villa. 

393. Policy of Dependencies 

With other Latin-American countries, closer relations were 
established. ■ In 1906, a Pan-American Congress was held in 
Rio de Janeiro and another in 1910 in Buenos Aires ; and sug- 
gestions were made that the time had come for a " Pan-American 
union " between the United States and the twenty neighboring 
republics. 

This policy of union was much disturbed by the attitude of 
the United States toward some of the small and weak near-by 
powers. After the withdrawal of American troops in 1902, 
Cuba remained practically a dependency of the United States, 
subject to the Piatt Amendment (§ 363). Santo Domingo (the 
Dominican Republic) remained practically under the direction 
of the United States after the customhouse was taken over in 
Roosevelt's administration (§ 382). Haiti was disturbed in 
much the same way, and in 191 5 a treaty was negotiated by 
which the finances and the poHce of that negro republic were 
placed under American control. With Nicaragua, President 
Taft proposed a treaty very similar to the arrangement with 
Cuba but including a payment of $3,000,000 to the little neigh- 
bor. After much discussion the Haitian treaty was ratified 
in 1 916 and a new one with Nicaragua the same year. Inas- 



628 The United States as a World Power 

much as the RepubUc of Panama was from its beginning subject 
to the will of the United States government, five of the twenty 
republican neighbors were practically not independent countries. 

394. The Great War in Europe (1914-1917) 

All other problems of Wilson's administration were overtopped 
by those caused by the terrific war which broke out in Europe, 
August I, 1914. The attack by Germany and Austria-Hungary 
— the "Central Powers" — did not upon its face affect the 
direct interests of the United States : they claimed to be fight- 
ing Russia. r>ance was pledged by treaty to aid Russia, and 
Great Britain was on friendly terms with both countries ; these 
three powers were known as the Entente, or the "Allies." 

The German armies poured into France ; on their way they 
overran the little kingdom of Belgium, thrusting aside as a 
mere "scrap of paper" the solemn treaties which bound them, 
together with France, Great Britain, and other powers, to 
observe the neutrality of Belgian soil. To terrorize the Bel- 
gians they established a frightful military despotism. 

The little Balkan countries of Serbia and Montenegro were 
invaded by Austria, while Italy came in on the side of the Allies. 
The Turkish Empire and Bulgaria, which were already under 
German influence, declared for the Central Powers. The plan 
of the Germans now stood fully revealed: they meant to con- 
struct and to control an empire which should reach from " Berlin 
to Bagdad." They aimed also to acquire tropical colonics, and 
were likely eventually to seek a lodgment in South America; 
all of which was of vast importance to the United States. 

The plan of a German world empire, however, depended on the 
break-up of the B'-itish, French, and Italian naval power; on 
the contrary, within a few months after the war began, the 
German merchant fleet and cruisers were driven from the seas. 
In February, 191 5, the Germans ordered out submarines to 
destroy enemy merchant ships within a great area around the 
British Isles which they called a "zone of war." Neutral 



The Great War in Europe 629 

vessels also were warned to steer clear of those waters, as they 
might be sunk by mistake. This at once aroused the United 
States, which claimed for American ships the right to trade 
with fighting nations just as in time of peace, subject only to 
search and capture if they were carrying contraband of war or try- 
ing to break a regular l^lockade (§ 146) ; and which claimed also the 
protection of international law for the lives of American noncom- 
batants on board the merchant ships of the warring powers. 

May 7, 191 5, a German submarine torpedoed the British mer- 
chant steamer Lusitania, bound from New York to Liverpool, 
without providing for the safety of passengers and crew. The 
great ship sank in a few minutes, drowning nearly twelve hun- 
dred people, including 114 Americans. This gross breach of tlie 
freedom of the seas, and deliberate and murderous attack upon 
American citizens, turned public feeling in the United States 
strongly against the Germans. It also became known that Ger- 
man and Austrian officials in the United States were spending 
money right and left to hire fire fiends and assassins to destroy 
American munition factories and ships leaving our ports. 

After a first alarming dash toward Paris, in 1914, the Germans 
had been thrown back anrl held in France and Belgium, and 
again in 1916 they failed in a tremendous attack on France. 
The Russians several times penetrated Prussian and Austrian 
territory; but were driven back in 1915. Turkish forces in 
Mesopotamia and Palestine were defeated. The German 
colonies in Africa and in the Pacific were seized by the Allies. 

Nevertheless, except for the AlHed control of the seas, the 
war map of 191 7 showed the Germans apparently victorious. In 
1916, Roumania had joined the Allies but was crushed by German 
and Austrian armies. In the spring of 19 17, Russia suddenly 
declared itself a republic. It was already a beaten nation ; 
the Germans were in control of Poland, Finland, and a large 
part of western Russia. German proposals of a peace conference 
were rejected by the Allies, who were unwilling to end the war 
on the basis of German victory. 



630 The United States as a World Power 

395. Review 

For several years the energy of a large part of the country 
went into the discussion of political methods. Many legislatures 
set up a new system of "direct primaries" for nomination of 
state officers. The system of "initiative" and "referendum" 
was devised, to enable the people to pass laws over the heads 
of the legislature. Hundreds of cities adopted "commission 
governments." Laws were passed regulating campaign ex- 
penses. In a few states the "recall" of public officials by a 
majority vote of the electors was made legal. None of these 
reforms worked as completely as had been hoped. 

In 191 2, Taft was renominated by the Republicans; the 
followers of Roosevelt organized a separate Progressive party. 
Woodrow Wilson was put up by the Democrats and was elected. 
As President, Wilson followed the lead of his predecessors in 
putting great pressure on Congress to pass legislation. He had 
a large influence in the Underwood tariff which became law; 
in a new Federal Reserve Bank system (1913) ; in the creation 
of a Federal Trade Commission (1914) ; and in an enlarged 
antitrust act (19 14). 

By the Sixteenth Amendment (1913), it became possible to 
lay an income tax; by the Seventeenth Amendment (1913), 
the election of senators was to be determined by popular vote. 

An insurrection broke out in Mexico in 1910 which kept that 
country in anarchy. A United States military expedition was 
sent to Vera Cruz in 1914 ; and another into northern Mexico 
in pursuit of Mexican bandits (1916). 

Several Pan-American conferences were held between 1901 
and 191 5 which looked toward some sort of understanding 
with the United States. Cuba, Santo Domingo, Haiti, Panama, 
and Nicaragua practically became dependencies. A fearful 
war broke out in Europe in 1914 and brought upon the United 
States many controversies and differences affecting its neutral 
trade and security. 



References and Topics 631 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. See map, p. 533. — Fish, Am. Dipl., 445. — 
Hart, Monroe Dad., front. — Paxson, New Nation, 77, 340. 

Secondary. Beard, Contcmp. Am. Hist., ch. xiii. — Chamberlin, 
Philippine Problem. — De Witt, Progressive Movement, pts. iii, iv. — 
Duncan-Clark, Progressive Movement, chs. iv-vi, xvi. — Fish, Am. 
Dipl., chs. xxxiv, xxxv. — Ford, Woodrow Wilson. — Hart, Monroe 
Doct., chs. xv-xxiv. — Hacker, Womeji's Rights. — Hepburn, Currency, 
chs. xxii-xxv. — Keren, Alcohol and Society. — McLaughlin and Hart, 
Cyclopcedia of Am. Gov. — Reed, Insurgent Mexico. — Stan wood. Presi- 
dency, II. ch. iv. — Woodburn, Polit. Parties, chs. x.xi, xxii. 

Sources. Am. Year Book, 1912 to 1916. — Beard, Readings, 
§§ 45> 54> 93) 94- — Beard and Shultz, Docs, on the Initiative. — - Bogart 
and Thompson, Readings, -jog, 765. — International Year Book, 1912 
to 1916. — Roosevelt, New Nationalism; Progressive Principles. — 
Wilson, Neiv Freedom. 

Pictures. See references to ch. xxxiii. 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Presidential election of 191 2. [§ 388] — (2) Account of one of the 
conventions of 1912: Republican; Progressive; Democratic. [§ 388] 
— (3) Public services of one of the following statesmen : Champ 
Clark; Bryan; Wilson; Underwood. [§§ 388-390] — (4) Debates on 
one of the following bills: Underwood tariff; Federal Reserve Act; 
Federal Trade Commission ; Clayton Antitrust Act ; Child Labor Act. 
[§ 390] — ■ (s) The Sixteenth Amendment; or the Seventeenth Amend- 
ment. [§ 391] — (6). Expedition to Vera Cruz; or Pershing's expedition. 
[§• 392] — (7) Occupation of Haiti. [§ 393] 

Topics for Further Search 

(8) Arguments for and against one of the following : Referendum ; 
Initiative; Commission Government; Campaign Expense Laws; Re- 
call ; City Manager. [§ 387] — (9) Woman suffrage in the U. S. : begin- 
nings ; or extension; or arguments for and against. [§ 391] — (10) Pro- 
hibition legislation : beginnings ; or extension ; or arguments for and 
against. [§ 391] — (11) Why was there a revolution in Mexico against 
Diaz? [§ 392] — (12) The A. B. C. powers. [§ 392] — (13) Pan-Ameri- 
can congresses since 1890. [§ 393] — (14) What are the duties of a 
neutral power in time of war? [§ 394] 



CHAPTER XXXVI 
WHAT AMERICA HAS DONE FOR THE WORLD 

396. The American Race 

The history of our beloved country can be understood only 
by thinking of it as the story- of the effort to make great prin- 
ciples and ideals prevail. We may now sum up for ourselves 
what the United States of America has accomplished that is 
worth handing on to the next generation. 

First of all, the United States has taught the world how to 
make a great modern nation out of a variety of races and peoples. 

According to the federal census of 19 10, in the total popu- 
lation of 92,000,000 people in the main part of the United 
States, about 14,000,000 were born in other countries, and 
19,000,000 were children of foreigners. Probably 25,000,000 
more were descended from non-English races and 10,000,000 
were negroes, leaving about 24,000,000 who were descended 
solely from the Enghsh stock that was in the country before 
the Revolution. 

Though we have as many race elements as any other country 
in the world, we have succeeded in holding to a common set 
of political traditions and methods. 

From the earhest times, the people of the United States 
have been grouped in communities, first called colonies and 
later states. There were thirteen of these at the end of the 
Revolution and there are now forty-eight, besides the District 
of Columbia ; the Canal Zone ; the four outlying territories and 
dependencies of Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippine 

632 



The American Race 



633 



Islands, and Porto Rico; some small islands; and five pro- 
tectorates. The forty-eight states are grouped as follows : 

(i) New England, 66,000 square miles and 6,600,000 people, 
inhabited in about equal numbers by people of the old New 
England stock, immigrants now living, and the descendants of 
the earlier immigrants. 

(2) The four middle states, with 105,000 square miles and 
19,500,000 population, have more wealth than any other part 

of the Union because 
of their immense man- 
ufactures and their 
great cities. 

C3) The South, with 
969,000 square miles 
and sixteen states, had 
a population in 1910 of 
32,500,000. Of these 
states West Virginia, 
Missouri, and Okla- 
homa are almost as 
much western as south- 
ern. 

(4) The middle West, with seven states extending west 
and northwest from Ohio to Minnesota, includes 389,000 
square miles and a population in 1910 of 22,600,000. This 
region is now about as rich and as closely settled as the eastern 
states. 

(5) The far West, made up of twelve states, from the Missouri 
River west to the ridge of the Sierra Nevada, contains 1,173,000 
square miles and 6,700,000 population. This region includes 
much mountain and desert, and is still underpopulated. 

(6) The three Pacific coast states of Washington, Oregon, 
and California, contain 324,000 square miles and 4,200,000 
population. They abound in natural resources and form the 
gateway to the Pacific and Asia. 

hart's new amer. hist. — 39 




Tyler Davidson Fountain, Cincinnati. 



634 What America has done for the World 

397. Territorial Expansion 

The people of the United States live on an area which 
increased from about 369,000 square miles in 1776 to 
about 3,744,000 square miles by the following additions of 
territory (maps, pages viii, 572-573) : 

(i) The Northwest Territory of 275,000 square miles, in 
part conquered by George Rogers Clark in 1778 (§ 104), in 
part ceded in 1782 (§ 108); and the area south of the Ohio 
River with 205,000 square miles, which was in part previously 
occupied by frontiersmen (§ 102), but was chiefly gained by the 
clever diplomacy of our envoys in 1782 (§ 108). 

(2) The Louisiana Purchase, 885,000 square miles, secured 
from France in 1803 (§ 159). 

(3) The Oregon country, 285,000 square miles, discovered in 
1792, explored in 1805, occupied by a trading post in 181 1 
(§ 160), occupied by settlers after 183 1, and confirmed by the 
treaty of 1846 (§ 229). 

(4) West Florida, 600 square miles, claimed from 1803 (§ 159) 
but added by military conquest from 18 10 to 18 13. 

(5) East Florida, 59,000 square miles, purchased by the 
treaty of 1819 with Spain (§ 190). 

(6) Texas, previously an independent. state, annexed in 1845, 
with 389,000 square miles (§ 228). 

(7) New Mexico and California, 529,000 square miles, con- 
quered in 1846, and ceded by Mexico in 1848 (§ 231). 

(8) Gadsden purchase of 30,000 square miles, bought from 
Mexico in 1853 (§ 231). 

(9) Alaska, bought in 1867 from Russia (§319), with 591,000 
square miles. 

(10) The Hawaiian Islands, 6500 square miles, previously 
an independent country, annexed by Congress in 1898 (§ 364). 

(11) Porto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, 119,000 square 
miles, conquered from Spain in 1898 (§ 360). 

(12) Part of the Samoan Islands, 77 square miles, claimed 



Development of the Frontier 635 

after 1878, and confirmed by treaty with Germany and Great 
Britain in 1899 (§ 364). 

(13) Several small Pacific islands, especially Wake, Baker, 
Howland, and Midway, earlier discovered but formally recog- 
nized as part of the United States in 1898 (§ 364). 

(14) Panama Canal Zone, 474 square miles, annexed by 
purchase from Panama in 1903 (§ 379). 

(15) Three of the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St. John, 
St. Croix), 138 square miles, bought from Denmark in 191 7. 




City and Harbor of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. 

In addition the United States between 1906 and 1916 obtained 
a protectorate over the neighboring Latin American states of 
Cuba, Haiti, Panama, Santo Domingo, and Nicaragua (§ 393). 
Altogether, those five states included 157,000 square miles and 
6,600,000 people. 



398. Development of the Frontier 

With the exception of the island possessions, nearly all the 
annexations since 1776 have been in an unsettled territory 
which had to be developed by new settlers. In 1800 Indiana 
and Mississippi were the frontier communities. In 18 21 Mis- 



636 What America has done for the World 

souri was admitted as the first state west of that river except 
Louisiana. In 1S50 there was still little population beyond the 
Missouri River and the frontiers of Arkansas and Texas. Then 
the settled area began to work backward from the Pacific coast, 
till in 1890 a continuous block of states extended across the 
continent from east to west. 

The Indian tribes, once the sole o\\Tiers of all this magnifi- 
cent country, were pushed aside by the onset of settlers. In 
the conflict of 181 1, the northwestern Indians were practically 
dispossessed from Indiana (§ 167). The wars under Jackson 
and others cleared lower Georgia and Alabama, and the Indians 
of northern Georgia were moved west soon after 1830 (§ 240). 
The northwestern and southwestern tribes continued a series 
of bloody wars in the far West till about 1S85, when their 
power was destroyed forever. 

As the wheat fields and cornfields advanced, the forests fell, 
swamps were drained, roads created, streams bridged, houses 
built, schoolhouses provided. Never before had mankind 
seen such a speedy and complete conquest of a wilderness. 
America has taught the world how to push into a new country, 
take up the land, build cabins, found towns, establish schools, 
and change the wilderness into a great ci\dKzed land. 

399. Social Development 

The immense growth of the United States in the agricultural 
regions has been equaled by the rise of great cities. In 191 6 
there were more than sixty cities, each having a population 
of more than 100,000. The great wealth of those places is 
sho\\Ti by miles of lofty flats and business structures, and the 
palatial homes of rich people, by docks and wharves and 
enormous railroad terminals, by costly public buildings and 
great factories. 

Much of the wealth of the country is concentrated in the 
great cities because they offer attractive homes to the rich, 
and because they are seaports, or full of factories and business 



Personal Freedom 637 

houses. The eager spirit of the United States finds its oppor- 
tunity in these vast cities. The total property value of the 
city of New York is over 8000 milHons, which is more than 
that for the whole of New England. 

These cities are "melting pots" in truth. In some of them 
more than half the residents were born outside the United 
States. In large cities with a varied population such as Chicago 
and San Francisco, nearly all the languages of Europe and some 
of Asia are spoken. Upon the city governments is placed the 
great responsibility of educating the children of the immigrants 
and of preparing them for citizenship. 

400. Personal Freedom 

The westward movement gave a fine opportunity to carry 
into eflfect the great principle that the people of a country are 
the proper governors of that country. By long experience, 
the United States has learned how to make popular government 
a reality and it has put in practice the following, among many 
principles of free government : 

(i) The foundation of all democratic government is Jhe right 
of personal freedom ; that is, the right of every normal man and 
woman to be free from the personal control of any other human 
being. This means that there shall be no slavery such as was 
practiced in all the English colonies (§ 75). During and just 
after the Revolution, about half the new states rid themselves 
of this curse (§ 112). Then, as new states were brought in 
during the period from 1800 to 1850, they were admitted to 
the Union in pairs, one free and one slave, to balance each 
other (§§ 183, 235). As a result of the Civil War, slavery was 
prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment in every part of the 
United States and every place under its jurisdiction (§ 313). 
This ended the long struggle to keep up a system which in its 
nature was opposed to American principles. 

(2) To this freedom from bondage is added freedom from 
arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, from unfair trials and 



638 What America has done for the World 

cruel punishments. With these go the broad right to everybody 
to move about within the United States, to pass from place to 
place, to engage in any trade or profession for which one is 
qualified, to find opportunities for whatever ability one may 
have. In the United States, children are not obliged to follow 
the calHng of their fathers. No one is subject to the will of the 
landowner or the magistrate. No one can be imprisoned for 
debt. Nobody has any privileges of rank, title, or nobility. 

(3) The United States has gone further than any other 
large country in acknowledging that women are a part of the 
make-up of the nation and are entitled to a share in the public 
national life. Public schools for girls appeared soon after the 
Revolution, and later high schools and colleges. In addition, 
many private secondary schools and universities have been 
established for women. Having these equal educational oppor- 
tunities, women can enter rtiany employments which were for- 
merly reserved almost entirely for men ; they can serve as clerks, 
bookkeepers, stenographers, librarians, teachers in schools and 
colleges, workers in factories, stores, and various outdoor pur- 
suits, and as physicians and lawyers. Many women are trustees 
or officers of public charitable institutions, and a few are state 
or city officials and members of legislatures. In most states, 
laws have been changed so as to give to women the right to 
hold property and to carry on business without the control of 
their husbands. In a majority of the states of the Union, 
women have suffrage in school or municipal affairs or both, 
and in about one quarter of the states of the Union they can 
vote and hold office on equal terms with men (§ 391). Be- 
yond these legal privileges and rights, women in the United 
States have a share in public discussions and an influence in 
public affairs unknown in any other large country in the world. 

401. Freedom of the Mind 

Freedom of the body and the right to vote would be of little 
value without an opportunity to form and express one's own 



Freedom of the Mind 639 

opinion and to discuss matters with one's neighbors. In this 
respect, the United States has taught a lesson to the world. 

(i) Any person here may express his mind on any public 
question, provided he does not tell malicious untruths about 
his neighbors or public men. He may call his neighbors to- 
gether in a public meeting to discuss, protest, and petition, 
and he may print his views in a newspaper. 

(2) This invaluable freedom extends to religious belief, teach- 
ing, and utterance. This is the first great country in the world 
in which men and women have been allowed freely to preach 
and practice any form of religion which does not interfere with 
the morals or the welfare of the community. 

(3) Americans also have had the freest opportunity of edu- 
cation. The community has provided public schools where all 
children who so desire may be educated at the expense of the 
state. Thus every child has a chance to make the most of 
himself; while the state on its side has the advantage of a 
population in which people know something, can express their 
ideas, and can act upon reason. No other country in the 
world has encouraged so many boys and girls to make use of 
pubUc schools, colleges, universities, and professional schools. 

(4) The people of the United States enjoy a freedom hardly 
known on the continent of Europe, to form societies for any 
legal purpose. Thousands are members of college fraternities 
and similar societies ; millions of members belong to the secret 
fraternities. The churches, besides their rehgious purposes, 
form social organizations for common benefits. Workingmen, 
business men, and scientific and professional men are grouped 
in national societies. Such organizations, which extend from 
state to state, tend to make the people realize that they belong 
to one country and have one purpose. 

Besides all these societies, some of which number their mem- 
bership by hundreds of thousands, there is one organization 
within the United States to which everybody belongs, which is 
supreme over every other society, corporation, or union, and 



640 What America has done for the World 

which comes first, must be loved most, and obeyed first. 
That society is our country itself, the United States of America ; 
the "American Commonwealth," as organized in its various 
forms of local and city governments, state governments, and the 
national government. 

402. Freedom of Labor 

No government can be carried on, no country can be kept 
alive, without the hard and systematic labor of millions of men 
and women. It may take the form of a wage system, 
such as prevailed in England during the 
eighteenth century, where each workman 
made his own bargain, and a hard 
bargain it was. It may be organized 
upon the idea that workmen are free 
to make individual contracts 
or, if they prefer, may 
unite in trades unions for 
what is called "collective 
bargaining." 

On this freedom of la- 
bor are many limitations. 
The states and the na- 
tional government have 
a right to fix the num- 
ber of hours that make 
a day's labor. Eight 
hours is the legal day in 
government employ- 
ment and on govern- 
ment work. Ten hours 
is the legal amount in many states, and there is a great effort to 
reduce it to eight hours. In some states there are special laws 
as to the hours and conditions of the labor of women. Again, 
in many states, children cannot lawfully be employed under a 




A Monument to Labor. (Designed by 
Tilden, San Francisco.) 



Freedom of Business 641 

fixed age, and not then except for a limited number of hours. 
Employers of labor are required both by national and by state 
laws to look out for the safety of their workmen and to compen- 
sate them if injured by accidents while at work. 

Trades unions, which are powerful in many parts of Europe, 
have been developed to a high degree in the United States. 
The labor unions are usually eager to enroll all those skilled in 
their trade. Hence they feel that the man who will not join 
the union is acting against them. The laws everywhere recog- 
nize the right to "strike " — that is, to stop working by a com- 
mon agreement ; and the trades-unionist feels that a non-union 
man who keeps on at work, or who takes the place of the union 
man who strikes, is stealing his job and taking the bread out of 
his mouth. Several states and also the United States have 
set up boards of conciliation or arbitration, which are intended 
to bring the strikers and their employers into accord. The 
laws of many states also provide that nobody shall engage in 
certain sorts of work, such as that of barbers, stationary engi- 
neers, and plumbers, without a certificate issued by the state 
on examination, and that is of course a protection to those 
trades. Certain kinds of business, such as the sale of liquors 
and dangerous drugs, are restricted or prohibited outright. 

With these exceptions and with the practical exception of 
the power of the labor unions to control trades in which they 
are very strong, a man or woman who wishes to make a living 
with the labor of hands or brain, may go anywhere throughout 
the land and engage in any kind of work for which he is fitted. 
This freedom of work, combined with high wages, has drawn 
millions of immigrants from other countries. 

403. Freedom of Business 

The same right of free choice extends to the business man. 
He may go to any part of the country and engage in any kind 
of lawful business. He may form firms, partnerships, and 
corporations. 



642 What America has done for the World 

This ability of any man to try the thing he thinks he can do 
best has caused amazing wealth and prosperity for the United 
States. For instance, the railroad business has been revolu- 
tionized by American cheap steel and American railroad man- 
agement. The average trainload of freight, moved by one 
engineer, one fireman, one conductor, and a small train crew, 
was in 1 916 two or three times as large in America as in Europe. 

American corporations and trusts, with all their dangers, 
have shown a great capacity to organize business on a large 




Transferring an Aeroplane to a Train. 

scale. They succeed because in many lines of business they 
bring about a saving in the cost of manufacture and in the 
expenses of management and of selling goods. On the other 
hand, no country has shown more success in curbing great com- 
binations of capital. 

Among modern nations, none is so quick as the United States 
to use labor-saving machinery and devices for factory, office, 
farm, and home. Americans have taught the world how to 
save human labor by the use of farm machinery, including such 
marvels as the thirty-horse harvester which goes through 
a field of standing wheat, and leaves behind it bags of grain 



Popular Government 643 

ready for shipment. The same expertness in machinery ex- 
tends to the factories. The wiUingness of American workmen 
to invent tools and adapt themselves to new machinery is one 
of the reasons for the prosperity of this country. The tele- 
graph, electric traction, electric light, and the telephone are 
all American inventions. No other nation approaches the 
Americans in the use of the telephone and of electric light. 
The use of motor cars on a great scale at low prices began 
in the United States. The first practicable flying machine 
was American. 

In transportation, the United States has learned much from 
the rest of the world, and has taught much. The first steam 
locomotives were Enghsh, but the first practical steamboat 
was American (§ 178). From end to end of the United States, 
there were in 1916, one post ofiice system including a parcel 
post, two telegraph companies, one system of currency, one 
general method of transportation of through freight and through 
passengers. Free trade existed throughout the Union and no 
state could hinder it. 

404. Popular Government 

Perhaps the largest contribution that America has made to 
the world is the proof, for the first time in history, that popu- 
lar government is possible for a nation of great extent, with a 
large population. This success is in part due to some of the 
following peculiarities of our American form of government : 

(i) The breadth of the suffrage, which is based upon the 
idea that if a man has a vote he will think about public affairs. 

(2) Equal representation of districts of equal population — ■ 
a plain, comprehensible method, which keeps people satisfied. 

(3) Organized parties and party politics, which help to keep 
government moving, so long as they are not looked upon as 
the real government themselves. 

(4) Frequent elections, making it possible to bring public 
opinion to bear in a quick and effective way. 



644 What America has done for the World 

In practice, popular government has had to contend with 
many difficulties. People change their residences so often 
that they do not come to know each other well. Political 
organization and action is complicated and can often be managed 
by a few men. Popular government has sometimes been 
almost destroyed, as by the Tweed Ring in the city of New 

York (§347)- 

Nevertheless popular government has so far found means to 
keep possession of its rightful authority by the following 
methods: (a) safeguarding the ballot by voting devices such 
as the Australian Ballot and by hmiting the amount that may 
be spent by candidates for office and their friends; (b) giving 
the people a greater share in the government by direct vote on 
constitutional amendments and on legislative acts (§ 387) ; 

(c) guarding more carefully the nomination machinery, by 
supervising the conventions or by primary elections (§ 387) ; 

(d) giving greater power to a few officials, such as the mayors 
of cities, the President, and the heads of city commission gov- 
ernments, and then encouraging men of high character and 
reputation to stand for those offices. 

405. Success of Federal Government 

Perhaps the most striking lesson which the United States 
has taught the rest of the world is the success of the federal 
system, which has been drawn upon as a model by the German, 
Swiss, Canadian, Australian, and South African confederations. 
This result seems due chiefly to the following : 

(i) The national government is well organized in a well- 
balanced Congress, a strong President with the most efficient 
civil service in the country, and Federal Courts of weight and 
dignity. Under the Constitution this government has shown 
that it possesses powers enough for national purposes, such as 
foreign commerce and war, federal taxes, banking, currency, 
and internal commerce and regulation of citizenship. 

(2) The statues have shown by an experience of more than 



Summary — Meaning of American History 645 

a hundred years that they can exercise very large authority 
over business confined to the boundaries of one state, over 
labor, education, public improvements, and the "police power " ; 
that is, the relations of men with each other and with the gov- 
ernment. Differences between the state and national govern- 
ments about their fields of authority are finally settled by the 
Supreme Court of the United States. 

(3) The local governments — towns, boroughs, villages, and 
cities — are all created by the states. This is the weakest 
part of American government and has little to teach the rest 
of the world, because many of the cities are badly governed, 
and are unfavorably affected by state and national politics. 

(4) A new t>'pe of government has sprung up since 1898 
in the dependencies — which are really colonies of the United 
States, with the important exception that hardly any settlers 
go out from the continental United States to live in them. 
Such colonies are honestly and carefully governed, but it is 
difficult to make them fit into the principle of "local self- 
government" which prevails in the United States, or into the 
idea of government by the "consent of the governed" which 
inspired the men of the Revolution. 

406. Summary — Meaning of American History 

Of what advantage to the pupil has been this study of Ameri- 
can history? Is it simply a tale that is told, which stores 
the mind with some knowledge of the men and events of our 
history? Or has it left impressions that will make American 
citizens helpful in carrying on the nation in the next generation ? 
As we follow the story, all the way from the days of our explor- 
ing, sea-fighting, and colonizing forbears, the three things 
most important to remember and apply are the principles 
which the French have tried to express in their national motto 
— "Liberty, Equahty, Fraternity." 

Liberty means in the United States, not the freedom to do 
whatever one likes, but — with due respect to the rights of 



646 What America has done for the World 

others — to take part in life as one judges best, to act 
for oneself. That is what has made the great inventors, 
educators, and statesmen ; they have worked out their own 
problems. 

Equality in the United States means an equal privilege before 
the law for every man, woman, and child. It is the just boast 
of our country that all people who have their own way to make, 
enjoy a better chance here than anywhere else in the world. 

Fraternity means combination; and in the whole history of 
America, perhaps the most wonderful thing is the spirit of 
orderly union. The Pilgrims on the Mayflower agreed to act 
together and to obey the majority; the patriots of the Revo- 
lution created state and national governments; the Federal 
Convention enlarged and strengthened the Union; the spirit 
of union saved the government from destruction by the Civil 
War, and has brought the two sections together again. 

Liberty, equality, and fraternity are all parts of one great 
idea — the happiness and safety of the individual under the 
protection of law and order. Americans do not look upon "The 
State" as something different from themselves. The state 
exists only in order to make individuals as free and happy as 
possible. The state, by its methods of discovering and apply- 
ing the popular will, makes it possible for the nation to grow 
and to bring about necessary changes and reforms by an appeal 
to the fairness and moral sense of the people. 

As Lincoln said in his first inaugural: "Why should there 
not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? 
Is there any better or equal hope in the world?" Ours be 
Lowell's pledge of patriotism : — 

" O Beautiful ! my Country ! . . . 
What were our lives without thee ? 
What all our lives to save thee ? 
We reck not what we gave thee ; 
We will not dare to doubt thee, 
But ask whatever else, and we will dare ! " 



CHAPTER XXXVII 
THE UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR {1914-1918) 

407. Reasons for War with Germany 

The attacks of the Germans on Americans at sea and on 
Americans in their own country (§ 394) aroused the nation. 
The success of the Central Powers would also mean financial 
and commercial ruin to three great countries ^with which we 
had relations of intimate friendship and trade. Still more, as 
the war went on, it became clear that Germany set up absolute 
government wherever she could conquer, and meant to be a 
power whose will could not be disputed by any other country 
or combination. The three so-called allies of Germany were 
nothing but puppet governments which had to take orders from 
Berlin. 

But the Uni*^ed States, like most of the world, was against the 
German principle of absolute power of the few over the many. 
Commercially, the general interests of the United States looked 
toward freedom of the seas. The Germans had already made 
such progress as to create the danger that, if they won, a struggle 
must sooner or later come between the German combination, 
as the greatest power in Europe, and the United States as the 
greatest power in America. We were already on Germany's 
black books; she was furious with the Americans for selling 
munitions and food to the Allies, and she hated the free institu- 
tions of the United States. Sooner or later war was bound to 
come! If our friends in Europe were beaten and subdued, 
we could expect no help from them. 

647 



648 The United States in the Great War 

Another reason for war was the barbarous behavior of Ger- 
many in the countries over which her armies passed. Poland, 
Serbia, Montenegro, Roumania, and considerable parts of Rus- 
sia underwent the same fate as Belgium and northern France, 
robbed of food and movable property, and subjected to cruel 
military discipline. A large part of the civilian population of 
Serbia was practically massacred by the German, Austrian, and 
Bulgarian armies. The Turkish government, under German 
control, ordered the extermination of the Christian Armenians. 
When obliged to retreat in part of northern France, the Germans 
blew up the villages, cut down the fruit trees, carried off the 
able-bodied men, and, so far as they could, turned the homes of 
innocent noncombatants into a desert. 

Yet how could the United States protect itseK against the 
approaching danger? We had no modern army. The militia 
called out to the Mexican border proved that a volunteer and 
temporary force was not equal to the needs of modern warfare ; 
further, the country had no sufficient material for warfare like 
that raging on the Russian and French fronts. What could we 
do without military airships, machine guns, trench bombs, heavy 
field artillery, portable siege guns, gas masks and gas factories, 
motor trucks, stocks of clothing, — all the modern costly and 
prodigious weapons ? 

In Congress, McLemore of Texas introduced a resolution to 
prohibit Americans from traveling on armed merchant ships, 
thus admitting that the Germans might sink such ships without 
providing for the safety of their passengers. President Wilson 
opposed this, because merchant ships have the right to defend 
themselves; and in March, 191 6, the resolution was defeated 
by a vote of 276 to 133. 

Because of the President's repeated protests against the unlaw- 
ful sinking of the Lusitania and other ships, and a threat to 
sever diplomatic relations, Germany at last gave a conditional 
promise that merchant ships should not be sunk without warning 
(May 4, 1916). 



Presidential Election of 191 6 649 

408. Presidential Election of 1916 

In the midst of the war, came on the presidential election of 
November, 19 16. No serious candidate appeared for the 
Democratic nomination except President Wilson. In the 
Republican party several states put forward their favorite sons : 
Root in New York, Burton in Ohio, Fairbanks in Indiana, 
Sherman in Illinois, and others. The Progressives chose 
delegates to meet in Chicago on June 7, the same day as the 
Republican convention, hoping to put pressure on the Re- 
publicans to nominate Roosevelt. The Republicans refused 
and nominated Charles E. Hughes, justice of the Supreme Court. 
The Progressive convention had already named Roosevelt for 
President, but he declined the nomination, and supported 
Hughes in the campaign. The Democratic convention in St. 
Louis a few days later renominated Wilson, and supported his 
policy in Mexico and in protecting citizens of the United States 
in the European War. 

Hughes made long speaking trips through the country, but 
the campaign was rather quiet. Wilson's friends raised the 
party slogan "He kept us out of war." His position as to war 
and peace satisfied the majority of the voters, and he was re- 
elected by a very close electoral vote, — 276 to 255 for Hughes. 
Out of nearly i ,000,000 votes in California Wilson's plurality was 
3773, while Hughes's plurality in Minnesota was 392. The elec- 
tion was won by a combination of the Solid South with New 
Hampshire, Ohio, and most of the far western states. The 
total popular vote showed about 600,000 plurality for Wilson. 

This reelection meant that every honorable effort would be 
made to keep out of the European war, and in January, 1917, 
President Wilson in a public address to both houses of Congress 
demanded in behalf of the neutral nations "A peace without 
victory." By this he meant a peace in which none of the 
European powers would be crushed or deprived of the power 
of governing itself. 

hart's new amer. hist. — 40 



650 The United States in the Great War 

409. OUTBREAX OF WaR WITH GERMANY 

The effort of this country to remain neutral broke down early 
in 1917 when (January 31) the German government notified the 
world that it intended to renew the submarine warfare in large 
areas of the high seas. The privilege was offered of sending to 




A Submarine Moving at Full Speed. 



England one American vessel a week if painted in red and white 
perpendicular stripes not less than one foot wide ! To protect 
our commerce and the lives of our people, to aid nations that 
were near and friendly to us, " to mak^ democracy safe in the 
world," to attack an enemy before he could attack us — these 
were the reasons for resisting further aggression. 

Upon this renewal of submarine warfare, President Wilson 
went back to his statement of April 16, 1916, that unless sub- 
marine warfare was stopped the United States would "sever 
diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether." 
Accordingly (February 3, 191 7) the American government 
notified Bernstorff, the German ambassador, that he must 
"leave the country forthwith." 



Outbreak of the War 



651 



Whether the Germans expected that the renewal of sub- 
marine warfare would bring the United States into the war is 
still uncertain ; but we do know that in January they asked 
the Mexican government to ally itself with Germany and to 
"reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and 
Arizona." In any case, the Germans felt sure that the United 
States could not raise an army in time to be useful, nor safely 
transport it across the seas. President Wilson made some 
efforts to arm American merchantmen and let them defend 
themselves, but Congress did not agree and matters drifted 
until the second inauguration of President Wilson on March 4. 

A few days later news was received that several American 
ships had been sunk by German submarines with a loss of life ; 
and the hope of peace was gone. On April 2, the President met 
Congress, called in special session, and informed the country 
and the world that the time had come for action. April 6, a 




President Wilson .\ddressixg Congress. 



652 The United States in the Great War 

declaration of war was proclaimed in accordance with a joint 
resolution passed the day previous by a vote of 82 to 6 in the 
Senate and 373 to 50 in the House. It set forth that " the state 
of war between the United States and the Imperial German 
Government which has thus been thrust upon the United States 
is hereby formally declared." 

The President held that we had not the same reason for war 
with Germany's allies. Not till December 7 was war formally 
declared on Austria-Hungary, while against Bulgaria and 
Turkey war was never declared or made by the United States. 

410. Prepaeations for War (1917-1918) 

The declaration of war would have been of no use unless 
backed by measures for raising forces and providing means for 
carrying on the war. The army was acting under a recent 
law (191 6) which was useless for war purposes. Congress 
therefore began to pass army bills. April 27 it authorized a 
force of 1,721,000 men, afterwards increased; it was made un- 
lawful to sell or give intoxicating liquor to any soldier or sailor. 

Another statute, commonly called the Espionage Act, was 
meant to control German spies and sympathizers. Still another 
gave power to the government to control the movement of food, 
and under another it built many ships. Equally important 
was the Revenue Act, providing for heavy war taxes. From 
time to time Congress also authorized immense loans, called 
Liberty Loans ^ 21 billions in all — which were issued in small 
denominations and were sold to the public at large. 

The United States avoided formal treaties of alliance, but, 
calling itself an "associated power," acted in closest accord with 
the French and British war authorities. Within a short time 
General Pershing, who held the highest command in the Ameri- 
can army, was sent to confer with the military authorities at 
the seat of war. It was also necessary to relieve the Allies by 
enormous credits, guaranteed by the United States, under which 
they could keep up their supply of food and munitions. 



Preparations for War 



653 




SicLLiNG Liberty Bonds in Wall Street. 

The Subtreasury Building at the right is on the site of the old Federal 

Hall where Washington was inaugurated President. In front is a statue of 

Washington. The other figures and the decorations were temporary.) 



After the collapse of the Russian Empire (March, 1917), the 
new government was not efficient ; the country soon fell into 
the hands of the Bolsheviki, the extremest and most violent 
sociaUsts. Russia dropped out of the war and shortly made a 
bad treaty with Germany. This breakdown in the east re- 
lieved the German and Austrian troops, who in 191 7 smashed 
in the Italian front and pressed hard on the French and British. 
Nothing but the food, munitions, credits, and good will of 
America made it possible to hold the Allied lines through the 
winter and spring of 1918, till the American army could get 
over. 



654 The United States in the Great War 




American Airplane in France, 19 18. 



411. "Over There" (1917-1918) 

The administration of the United States had made no war 
preparations for a modern war. The army and navy had no 
heavy field guns, no experience of trench warfare, no military 
airplanes, no fleet of transport ships, almost no powerful sub- 
marines, no camps for a modern army. The nation, however, 
made good in spite of the delayed start, because of its great 
number of intelligent young men, vast reserves of food, materials, 
and money, and long experience in organizing mines, factories, 
and railroads on a large scale. 

The whole people sprang to the great task. By volunteering 
and then by a searching draft, nearly 4,000,000 men were en- 
rolled and 1,971,000 crossed the seas. Nevertheless a year 
after the declaration of war, not more than 300,000 troops had 
reached France. The army had the big task of training the 
recruits in camps, which grew up as by magic all over the United 



Over There " 



655 



States ; then of drilHng, clothing, and equipping them and 
"putting them over." 

On the ocean the task of the fleet was to unite with the British 
fleet to protect the ocean and the European ports ; and the 
success was so great that supplies poured into the Allied ports, 
and only about 700 soldiers were lost by the attacks of the 
German submarines. During 1918 the combined navies kept 
the road clear for the shipment of 1,780,000 men; not a single 
transport was sunk on an eastward voyage. 

The war was not fought by soldiers alone, but by men, women, 
and children throughout the land, who organized state and 
local Committees of Safety and all sorts of aid to the soldiers 
To the same end thev worked in the Red Cross. Y. M. C. A., 




Red Cross Hospital in France. 

Salvation Army, Knights of Columbus, and countless other 
group societies and fraternities. 

In the spring of 19 18 the Germans made enormous prepara- 
tions for a final attack on the western front. They knew that 
masses of American troops were approaching. March 21 they 
began a "great offensive," and pushed day after day down into 



656 The United States in the Great War 

France. The Americans were needed, and the Americans came. 
March 28, 1918, was their first experience on the firing line. 
A body of engineers and workmen under General Carey sprang 
into and closed a gap on the AUied line, without orders. May 
28 a small force captured a German position at Cantigny. 




American Marines Returning from the Trenches for Rest. (The 
strips of cloth are camouflage to prevent observation from enemy airplanes.) 

A pitched battle came early in June, when a large American 
command — the Third Division — took part ; they were on 
the front line at Chateau-Thierry. There these raw, untrained 
"Yanks" held the highly trained and advancing "Boches." 
After that they quivered to attack the enemy; June 6 the 
soldiers and marines of the Second Division assaulted the 
German line at Belleau Wood, kept the fighting up for a week 
and pushed the enemy back, though with heavy losses, and the 
Boches never crossed that ground again. 

More battles followed, and the courage and efficiency of the 
Americans were so well proved that General Pershing was put 



Over There " 



657 



in charge of an assault, September 12, on the strong Hnes of 
St. Mihiel near Verdun. In a few hours the Germans were 
chased out of that region. From September 20 to November i 
came the deadly Meuse-Argonne campaign, where an American 
army pushed the Germans hsLck till they reached Sedan, and 
broke the enemy's connection with the rear. The total losses 
of the whole "American Expeditionary Force" were: killed, 
77,000; wounded, 221,000. 

In many fields farther northwest the French and British 
were fighting in the same dogged spirit. November 11, 1918 — 
a great date in American history — the whole German army 
gave up the fight ; their officers signed an armistice, and in a few 




Famous Generals at Metz, December 8, 19 18. 

(Petain, French commander, here made a marshal ; Joffre, an earlier French 
commander; Foch, Allied supreme commander; Haig, British; Pershing, 

American.) 



658 The United States in the Great War 

hours their columns were abandoning their fortified lines and 
retiring into Germany. Bulgaria, Turkey, and Austria-Hungary 
had already been forced to surrender. The war was over I 

412. Peace 

To fight Germany and her allies to a standstill was much 
simpler than to make a peace which would secure the results 
of victory. The armistice provided that Germany should lose 
all her conquests, and some of her border territory ; surrender 
her war fleet, and many guns, airplanes, and railroad trains ; 
surrender her war prisoners and make "reparations" for de- 
struction of towns, mines, and factories. 

Everybody expected that the final peace would be made by a 
Congress of Nations, and such a meeting began in January, 
1919, at Paris. All the powers that had been fighting on the 
Allied side were invited, and those which had broken ofif diplo- 
matic relations with Germany, so that 27 nations were repre- 
sented — none from the defeated powers or from neutral coun- 
tries. In this conference the leading powers were Great Britain, 
France, Italy, and Japan — the four strongest Allies — and the 
United States. 

President Wilson had, on January g, 1918, laid down "four- 
teen points" or principles for settling the affairs of the world, 
and giving a chance for newly independent nations to get estab- 
lished. These points, with some others contained in other 
addresses of the President, were accepted as the bed rock of the 
work for the Conference which met in Paris in January, 19 19. 

The President appointed four members of the American dele- 
gation, then went to Paris as the chief of the delegation, and he 
individually made all the serious decisions there in behalf of 
the United States. He became the most notable person in the 
Conference, and stood out for a settlement of the world such 
as would remove the chief causes of war. He therefore insisted 
on "self-determination" for the various national groups (such 
as Bohemia and Poland) which had for long years been com- 



League of Nations 659 

pelled to accept government at the hands of other races within 
the German, Austrian, and Turkish empires. 

One of the fourteen points called for a League of Nations, 
long urged in the United States and Europe, which Wilson felt 
sure would protect the rising and weak nations and prevent 
wars. The Conference drew up a " Covenant of the League of 
Nations," as a constitution for such an international associa- 
tion. It provided for an Assembly of representatives of all 
the member states (with very little authority), and a Council 
of nine nations to make the real decisions. The treaty with 
Germany was signed June 28, 1919 ; it was ratified by the Allies 
and went into effect January 10, 1920. Most of the nations in 
the world soon accepted membership in the League of Nations. 
Separate treaties were made with Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, 
and Turkey. It looked as if peace was established. 

413. League of Nations (1919-1920) 

Returning to the United States, President Wilson submitted 
to the Senate the treaty with Germany, including the Covenant 
of the League of Nations. During several months of open 
discussion on the floor of the Senate, little objection was raised 
to the general provisions of the treaty, except the transfer of 
the German authority over the Chinese province of Shantung 
to Japan. The treaty of peace by itself could have been rati- 
fied. The League of Nations, however, was violently opposed 
on the ground that it pledged the United States to go to war 
on issues which did not directly affect our interests. 

The Republicans and Democrats had about the same number 
in the Senate ; and it proved impossible to combine members of 
both parties into the necessary two-thirds majority. Deter- 
mined objection was made to Article X, by which members 
of the League bound themselves to "respect and preserve as 
against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing 
political independence of all members of the League." Many 
"amendments" and "reservations" were suggested but no form 



66o The United States in the Great War 

was satisfactory both to the President and to a two-thirds 
majority of the Senate. Meantime President Wilson had a 
shock (September 26) which disabled him and prevented his 
leading the discussion ; still he had the negative power to 
prevent any other treaty or league. He would not yield the 
disputed points; and the country remained nominally at war 
with Germany and Austria. 




United States Army Transport Loaded with Returning Soldiers. 

(The bizarre designs painted on the ship are camouflage to prevent accurate 

observation by submarines.) 



414. After the War (1918-1920) 

Congress and the American people were much occupied in 
bringing the country back to normal peace conditions. During 
19 19 almost all the American troops were brought back from 
overseas and mustered out. Several of the states paid a money 



After the War 66 1 

bonus to the ex-soldiers, and Congress gave them special priv- 
ileges in public lands, and provided an elaborate system to 
educate the men who had been wounded and disabled. 

Prices ran very high during the war. ' In a series of strikes 
the labor unions undertook to increase wages or to hold to high 
wages. The railroads during the war were under the control 
of the government ; but by the Esch-Cummins Bill were, in 
1920, turned back to the private companies. 

The years 19 19-1920 were marked by the ratification of two 
amendments to the Federal Constitution. State acts pro- 
hibiting the trade in intoxicating liquors had been in force in 
some states for half a century, and the number of prohibition 
states was increasing rapidly. In 19 18 Congress passed an act 
to cut the liquor business off altogether, on the ground that it 
interfered with national efhciency in time of danger. Mean- 
while a Constitutional Amendment was submitted to prohibit 
the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors 
anywhere within the United States. In January, 1919, 36 of 
the 48 states having ratified this Eighteenth Amendment, it 
was declared adopted; and subsequently nine other states 
added their ratifications. Congress passed the Volstead Act 
(October, 1919) for carrying out the amendment, which took 
effect January 16, 1920. 

The other amendment was for "equal suffrage" — extending 
the vote to women — a reform already adopted by about one 
third of the states in the Union. In June, 1919, a national 
amendment was submitted by Congress. After a very hard 
fight for ratification, on August 26, 1920, it was officially an- 
nounced that this Nineteenth Amendment had received 36 
ratifications and was a part of the Constitution. 

415. The Election of 1920 

President Wilson, when the Senate refused to ratify the treaty 
with the League of Nations substantially as it stood, declared 
that the question should be carried into the next general election, 



662 The United States in the Great War 



so as to get an expression of the will of the people. The first 
step in the campaign was the primaries in many states, which 
showed that General Leonard Wood and Governor Lowden of 
Illinois were the Republican favorites ; and ex-Secretary of the 
Treasury McAdoo and Attorney-General Palmer, the Demo- 
cratic. The Republican national convention at Chicago showed 
a deadlock among the supporters of the main candidates, and 

Senator Harding of 
Ohio was nominated. 
The platform pledged 
the party to " an inter- 
national association — 
without the com- 
promise of national 
independence"; but 
declared against the 
Covenant in the 
peace treaty. 

The Democratic con- 
vention at San Fran- 
cisco also dropped the 
leaders and nominated 
another candidate. 
Governor Cox of 
Ohio. Their platform 
called for the adop- 
tion of the League 
without reservations which impair its essential 




Warren G. Harding. 



of Nations 
integrity." 

In the campaign the main issues were the League of Nations, 
the record of Wilson's administration, and personal questions 
among the candidates. The election in November showed 
a very large majority for Harding, who carried the northern and 
western states and Tennessee, leaving to Cox only the other 
states of the Solid South. The Republican party also secured 



Review 663 

a large majority in the Senate and in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

416. Review 

In the presidential campaign of 19 16, the Progressives failed 
to induce the Republicans to nominate Roosevelt ; instead, 
Hughes was put up. The Democrats renominated Wilson, 
who was elected by a close vote. 

Conditions in Europe grew more threatening. The Germans 
in 19 1 7 renewed submarine attacks on American ships and 
lives. President Wilson accepted the issue, and recommended 
war, which was declared by Congress April 6 on Germany, and, 
later, on Austria-Hungary. 

A series of war acts raised a large army, dealt with spies 
and disloyal persons, controlled food, and raised money. The 
United States entered into close relations but no treaties of 
alliance with the western powers, and backed them up with vast 
credits. Russia drew out of the war, releasing German troops, 
but the Allied forces held in the west, by the aid of American 
money and supplies. 

In 19 1 8 nearly two million Americans were carried across the 
seas. The people at home supported the war with aid organi- 
zations and loyalty. When the Germans made a big drive in 
France, American troops took part first in small engagements and 
then in heavy field operations. The Allies and the Americans 
together totally defeated the Germans and compelled them to an 
armistice, November 11, 1918. 

Peace was made by a Congress of Nations in 191 9 in Paris, 
in the form of a treaty with Germany based on the "fourteen 
points " of Wilson. In it was included a Covenant of the League 
of Nations under pressure from President Wilson. 

The treaty met some opposition in the United States, and the 
League of Nations was attacked so strongly, especially by 
Republican senators, that it was impossible to secure its ratifi- 
cation by the Senate, hence the whole treaty failed in the United 
States. 



664 The United States in the Great War 

The United States after the war was disturbed by labor 
troubles and high prices. Prohibition and Equal Suffrage amend- 
ments were added to the Constitution. In the election of 1920, 
Harding, the Republican candidate, was elected over Cox whom 
the Democrats put up ; the main issues being the League of 
Nations and Wilson's administration. 

References Bearing on the Text and Topics 

Geography and Maps. Cram Co., Atlas of the War in Europe. — 
Denoyer-Geppert Co., War Ainis Maps (wall). — Literary Digest. — 
McKinley, Collected Materials (also in History Teachers' Magazine, 
April, 1918). — N. Y. Times Current History. — Outlook Atlas. — 
Rand McNally& Co., Language Map of Europe and New Nations (wall). — 
World's Work. — See also the large histories listed under " Secondary." 

Secondary. Barries' Sons, The Greatest War (4 vols.). — Beck, War 
and Humanity. — ■ Committee on Public Information, National Service 
Hand Book. — Halsey, Literary Digest History of the War (9 vols.). — ■ 
Harper's Pictorial History of the War. — Hays, Brief History. — Mc- 
Kinley, World War. — McMaster, The United States and the Great 
War. — McPherson, Short History of the Great War. — New York Times 
European War Volumes (20 vols.). - — • Ogg, National Progress, chs. xiii- 
xxi. — Reynolds, etc., Story of the Great War (10 vols.). — Rogers, Amer- 
ica's Case against Germany. — Simonds, History of the World War 
(5 vols.). — Tappan, Little Book of the War. 

Sources. American Year Book, years 1914-1919. — Ayres, War 
with Germany — Statistical Survey. — Committee on Public Informa- 
tion, War Message and Facts and War Lnformation Series. — - Froth- 
ingham, Handbook of War Facts. — Hart (ed.), Addresses and Public 
Papers of Woodrow Wilson. — Hart, America at War. — Hart and 
Lovejoy, Handbook of the War. — International Conciliation (pam- 
phlets). — Intcrnatioiuil Year Book. — Munro, The War Reader. — 
National Board of Historical Research, War Readings. — Neiv York 
Times Current History. — Robinson and West, Foreign Policy of Wood- 
row Wilson. — Shaw (ed.), Wilson, State Papers and Addresses. — 
Sheridan, Liberty Reader. 

Illustrative. Allen and Kleiser, Stories of Americans in the World 
War. — Brooks, Fighting Men. — Committee on Public Information, 
Battle Line of Democracy (verse). — Connolly, U-Boat Hunters. — 
Doubleday, Page & Co., War Poems. — Fraser, Deeds That Will Never 
Die. — Golden Book of Patriotic Prose and Poetry. — Kueller, Young 



References 665 

Lion of Flanders. — Morse, Vanguard of American Volunteers. — 
Paxson, etc., War Cyclopedia. — Seeger, War Poems. — Roosevelt, 
Fear God and Take Your Own Part. — Thompson and Bigwood, World 
War Stories. 

Pictures. American Review of Reviews. — Century. — Collier's 
Weekly. — Current History. — ■ Independent. — Leslie's. — ■ Literary Di- 
gest. — ■ National Geographic Magazine. — Outlook. — • Raemaker's Car- 
toons. — ■ Saturday Evening Post. — Scribncr's. — Illustrations in the 
large histories noted above under " Secondary." 

Topics Answerable from the References Above 

(i) Dangers to the Western Allies if defeated by the Central Powers. — • 
(2) German method of waging war. [§ 407] — ■ (3) Incidents of the election 
of 1916. [§ 408] — (4) Selling the Liberty Loans. [§ 410] — (5) Raising the 
a-my by selected conscription. [§ 411] — ^(6) American troops on the Ger- 
man front. [§411] — (7) Incidents in the Conference at Paris. [§ 412] — 
(8) The Covenant of the League of Nations. [§ 412] — (9) Discussion of 
the League of Nations in Congress. [§ 413] — (10) Difficulties in enforcing 
the Eighteenth Amendment. [§ 414] — (11) Incidents of the election of 
1920. [§ 415] 

Topics for Further Search 

(12) Was the United States in danger from Germany ? [§ 407] — 
(13) The Progressive Convention in Chicago in 1916. [§ 408] — (14) Why 
did the submarine warfare so arouse the United States ? [§ 409] — ■ (15) How 
was the Espionage Act applied?-' [§ 410] — (16) Transportation of the troops 
over sea. [§ 411] — (17) The Capture of St. Mihiel. [§ 411] — (18) Discus- 
sion of the Fourteen Points. [§ 412] — (19) Objections to "Article X." 
[§ 413] 



HART S NEW AMER. HIST. — 41 



APPENDIX A 

BRIEF LIST OF DESK BOOKS 

(These books, obtainable at moderate cost, are well adapted for constant 
use on the teacher's desk. At least one work out of each of the five groups 
should be available for pupils' use.) 

I. Methods and Materials. American Historical Association, Committ'-e of 

Seven, The Study of History in Schools. (N. Y., Macmillan, 1899.) 
Bourne, H. E., The Teaching of History and Civics in the Elementary and 

Secondary School. (N. Y., Longmans, 1902.) 
Channing, E., Hart, A. B,, and Turner, F. J., Guide to the Study and Reading 

of American History. (Bost., Ginn, 1912.) 
History Teachers' Magazine (monthly). (Phila., McKinley, 1909.) 
New England History Teachers' Association, A History Syllabus for Second- 
ary Schools. (Bost., Heath, 1904. Part IV, on American History, sold 
separately.) 
New England History Teachers' Association, Historical Sources in Schools. 
(N.Y., Macmillan, 1902.) 

II. Collections of Sources. Ames, H. V., ed., State Documents on Federal 

Relations. (N. Y., Longmans, 1906.) 
Caldwell, H. W., ed., Survey of American History. (Chic, Ainsworth, 1900 ) 
Caldwell, H. W., and Persinger, C. E , eds., Source History of the United 

States. (Chic, Ainsworth, 1909.) 
Ha.t, A. B., ed., American History told by Contemporaries. (4 vols., N. Y., 

Macmillan, 1897-1901.) 
Hart, A. B., ed., American Patriots and Statesmen. (5 vols., N. Y., Collier's, 

1916.) 
Hart, A. B., ed., Source Book of American History. (N. Y., Macmillan, 

1900.) 
Hart, A. B., and Channing, Edward, eds., American History Leap.ts. (36 

nos., N. Y., Simmons, 1892-1910.) 
Hill, Mabel, ed., Liberty Documents, ivith Contemporary Exposition and 

Critical Comments. (N. Y., Longmans, 1901.) 
MacDonald, Wm., ed., Documentary Source Book of American History. 

(N. Y., Macmillan, 1908.) 

III. Brief Histories. Bassett, J. S., Short History of the United States. 
(N. Y., Macmillan, 1913.) 

Sparks, E. E., The United States of A?nerica. (2 vols., N. Y., Putnams, 1904.) 

ix 



X Appendix B 

IV. Short Series of Histories. Epochs of American History. (3 vols., 
N. Y., Longmans. Rev. eds., about 19 14.) 

1. Thwaites, R. G., The Colonies. 

2. Hart, A. B., Formation of the Union. 

3. Wilson, Woodrow. Division and Reunion. 

Home University Library of Alodern Knowledge. (5 vols., N. Y., Holt, 
1911-14.) 

1. Andrews, C. M., The Colonial Period. 

2. Smith, T. C, The Wars between England and America. 

3. MacDonald, Wm., From Jeffersoti to Lincoln. 

4. Paxson, F. L., The American Civil IVar. 

5. Haworth, P. L., Reconstruction and Union. 

The Riverside History of the United States. (4 vols., Bost., Houghton 
Mifflin, 191 5.) 

1. Becker, C. L., Beginnings of the American People. 

2. Johnson, A., Union and Democracy. 

3. Dodd, W. E., Expansion and Conflict. 

4. Paxson, F. L., The Nttv Nation. 

A Short History of the American People. (2 vols., N. Y., Am. Book Co.) 

1. Greene, E. B., The Poimdations of American Nationality. (In 
preparation.) 

2. Fish, C. R., The Development of Ajuerican Nationality. (19 13.) 

V. Biographical Series. American Crisis Biographies. (15 vols., Phila., 

Jacolis, 1907-14.) 
American Statesmen. (31 vols, and additional vols., Bost., Houghton 

Mifflin, 1907-14.) 
Beacon Biographies. U^ vols., Bost., Small, Maynard, 1S99-1901.) 
Riverside Biographical Series. (14 vols., Bost., Hought<m, 1900-02.) 

APPENDIX B 

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 

(Containing exact titles of the most important books to which reference is 
made in the chapter biblit)graphies.) 

Adams, Henry, History of the United States, 1S01-1817. (9 vols., N. Y., 
1889-91.) — John Randolph. (Amer. Statesmen, Bost., 1900.) 

Addams, Jane, Twenty Years at Hull-Ho^ise. (N. Y., 1910.) 

Allen, G. W., Our Naval War ivith France. (Bost., 1909.) — Our Navy 
and the Barbary Corsairs. (Bost., 1 905.) 

American Annual Cyclopa:dia, 1861-1874. (N.Y., 1862-75.) Continued 
as Appletons' Annual Cyclopcedia, 1875-1902. (N. Y., 1876-1903.) 

American Peview of Reviews. Monthly Mag. (N. Y., 1890-.) 

American Year Book, igio-. (Annual, N. Y., 191 1-. ) 

Ames, H. V., ed., State Documents on Federal Relations. (N. Y., 1906.) 



General Bibliography xi 

Andrews, C. M., Colonial Self-Government. (Amer. Nation, N, Y., 1904 ) — 

Colonial Period. (Home Univ. Lib., N. Y., 1912.) 
Avery, E. M., History of the United States and Its People. (7 vols., Cleve- 
land, 1904-10.) 
Babcock, K. C, Rise of .American Nationality. (Amer. Nation, N. Y., 1906.) 
Bassett, J. S., federalist System. (Amer. Nation, N. Y., 1906.) — ■ Lije of An- 

drew fackson. (2 vols., N. Y., 191 1.) — Short History of the United 

States. (N. Y., 19 13.) 
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. (4 vols., N. Y., 188S.) 
Beard, C. A., Contemporary American History, iSyj—igij. (N. Y., 1914.) — 

Readings in American Government and Politics. (Rev. ed., N. Y., 1913.) 
Becker, C. L., Beginnings of the American People. (Riverside, Bost., 1915O 
Bogart, E. L., Economic History of the United States. (N.Y., 1907.) 
Bogart, E. L., and Thompson, C. M., eds., Readings in the Economic History 

of the United States. (N. Y., 1916.) 
Bourne, E. G., ed.. Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto. (Trail 

Makers, 2 vols., N. Y., 1904.) — Spain in America. (Amer. Nation, 

N.Y., 1904.) 
Brigham, A. P., Geographic Influences in American History. (Bust., 1903.) 
Brooks, E, S., Story of Our War with Spain. (Bost., 1899.) 
Brown, W. G., Andrew fackson. (Rive.rside Biogr., Bost., 1900.) — The Lotver 

South in American History. (N. Y., 1902.) 
Bruce, P. \., Social Life of I'irgi nia in the ijth Century. (Richmond, 1907.) 
Caldwell, H. W., ed., American Territorial Development. (Chic, 1900.) — 

Su7"'ey of American History. (Chic, 1900.) 
Caldwell, H. W., and Persinger, C. E. , eds., Source History of the United 

States. (Chic, 1909.) 
Carlton, F. T., History and Problems of Organized Labor. (Bost., 191 1.) 
Chadwick, F. E., Cazises of the Civil War. (Amer. Nation, N. Y , 1906.) — 

Relations of the United States and Spain. (3 vols., N. Y., 1909-1 1.) 
Channing, Edward, History of the United States. (4 vols., N. Y., 1905-.) — 

feffersonia7i System. (Amer. Nation, N. Y., 1906.) 
Chittenden, H. M., .American Fur Trade in the Far West. (3 vols., N. Y., 

1902.) 
Collier & Son, P. F., Pub., Story of the Great War. (5 vols., N. Y., 1916-.) 
Coman, Katharine, Economic Beginnings of the Far IVest. (2 vols., N. Y., 

1912.) — Industrial History of the United States. (Rev. ed., N. Y., 1910.) 
Curry, J. L. M., Civil History of the Government of the Confederate States. 

(Richmond, 1901.) 
Dana, R. H., Tivo Years before the Mast. (N. Y., 1840, and later editions.) 
Dewey, D. R., Financial History of the United States. (Amer. Citizen Ser., 

5th ed., N. Y., 1915.) — National Problems, iSS^-iSpy. (Amer. Nation, 

N. Y., 1907.) 
De Witt, B. P., Progressive Movement. (Citizen's Library, N. Y., 1915.) 
Dodd, W. E., Expansion and Conflict. (Riverside Hist., Bost., 1915.) — 

fefl'erson Davis. (Amer. Crisis Biogr., Phila., 1907.) 
Du BoiS; W. E. B., Souls of Black Folk. (Chic, 1903.) 



xii Appendix B 

Dunbar, P. L., Folks from Dixie. (N. Y., 1898.) — Lyrics of Lowly Life. 

(N. Y., 1896.) 
Dunne, F. P., Mr. Dooley in Peace and in War. (Bost., 1898.) — Mr. DooUy 

in the Hearts of His Countrymen. (Bust., 1899.) 
Dunning, W. A., Reconstruction. (Amer. Nation, N. Y., 1907.) 
Earle, A. M., Child Life in Colonial Days. (N. Y., 1899.) — Colonial Dames 

and Goodivives. (Bost., 1895.) — Curious Punishments of Bygone Days. 

(N. Y., 1896.) — Home Life in Colonial Days. (N. Y., 1898.) — Sabbath 

in Puritan A^eto England. (N. Y., 1891.) — Stage-Coach and Tavern 

Days. (N. Y., 1900.) — Two Centuries of Costume in America. (2 vols., 

N. Y., 1903.) 
Eastman, C. A., /«<//«« j5oy/;£?0(/. (N. Y., 1902.) — Lndian To-day. (N. Y., 

1915) 

Eggleston, G, C, ed., American War Ballads and I^yrics. (2 vols., N. Y., 
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Fiske, John, .-^W(?r/(ra« Revolution. (2 vols., Bost., 1891.) — Beginnings of 
New England. (Bost., 1889.) — Critical Period of American History. 
(Bost., 1888.) — Discovery of America. (2 vols., Bost., 1892.) — Dutch 
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1902.) — Old Virginia a7id Her Neighbors. (2 vols., Bost., 1897.) 

Ford, H. J., Woodroxv Wilson. (N. Y., 1916.) 

Ford, P. L., Honorable Peter Stirling. (N. Y., 1894.) — Janice Meredith. 
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Foster, J- W. , Century of American Diplomacy. (Bost., 1900.) 

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vincial Governor in English Colonies of North America. (N. Y., 1898.) 

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Hapgood, Hutchins, Paul Jones. (Riverside Biogr., Bost., 1901.) 

Hapgood, Norman. Abraham Lincoln. (N. Y., 1899.) — Daniel Webster. 
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Harding, S. B., and Clapp, J. M., eds.. Select Orations Lllustrating American 
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Harris, J. C., On the Plantation. (N. Y., 1892.) — Uncle Remus, His Songs 
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Hart, A. B., Actual Government. (Amer. Citizen Ser., 3d ed., N. Y., 1908.) 
— American Nation, a History; from Original Sources by Associated 
Scholars, (ed., 28 vols., N. Y., 1904-17.) — American History Told by 



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(Epochs of Amer. Hist., rev. ed., N. Y., 1915.) — Foundations of Ameri' 
can Foreign Policy. (N.Y., 1901.) — Monroe Doctrine : an Interpreta- 
tion. (Bost., 1916.) — Natio7tal Ideals Historically Traced. (Amer. 
Nation, N. Y., 1907. ) — Obvious Orient. (N. Y., 191 1.) — Salmon Port- 
land Chase. (Amer. Statesmen, Bost., 1900.) — Slavery and Abolition. 
(Amer. Nation, N. Y., 1906.) — Source Book of American History, (ed., 
N. Y , 1900.) — Source Readers in American History, (ed., 4 vols., 
N. Y., 1902-03.) — Southern South. (N. Y., 1910.) — IVar in Europe. 

(N.Y., 1914.) 

Haworth, P. L., America in Ferment. (Indianapolis, 1915.) — Hayes- Tilden 
Disputed Presidential Election of iSyd. (Cleveland, igo6.) — Recon- 
struction and Union. (Home Univ. Lib., N. Y., 1912.) 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, Blithedale Romance. (Bost., 1S52.) — Grandfather'' s 
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Hill, Mabel, ed.. Liberty Documents. (N. Y., 1901.) 

Hinsdale, B. A., Old Northivest. (2 vols., N. Y., 1S88.) 

Holmes, O. W., Poetical Works. (In many editions.) 

Howells, W. D., Bofs Town. (N. Y., 1890.) 

Hunt, Gaillard, y£i/i« C. Calhoun. (Amer. Crisis Biogr., Phila., 1908.) — 
James Madison. (N. Y., 1902.) 

International Year Book. 1S98-1902, 1907-. (Annual, N. Y., 1899-1903, 
1908-.) 

James, J. A., ed., Readings in .American History. (N. Y., 1914.) 

Johnson, Allen, ed., A'i;<7i/i«^^5 in American Constitutional History.^ i-jy6~i8j6. 
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Johnston, Alexander, and Woodburn, J. A., eds., American Orations : Studies 
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Latane, J. H., America as a World Poiver, iSgif-igoy. (Amer. Nation, N. Y., 
1907.) 

Leland, C. G., Algonquin Legends of New England. (Bost., 1884.) 

Lodge, H. C, Alexander Hamilton. (Amer. Statesmen, Bost., 1900.) — 
Daniel Webster. (Amer. Statesmen, Bost., 1900.) — George Washing- 
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Spanish Pioneers. (Chic, 1893.) 

McCall, S. W., Life of Thomas Brackett Reed. (Bost., ?9I4.) — Thaddeus 
Stevens. (Amer. Statesmen, Bost., 1900.) 



xiv Appendix B 

MacDonald, William, F7-07n Jefferson to Lincoln. (Home Univ. Lib., N. Y., 
1913.) — Jacksonian Democracy. (Amer. Nation, N. Y., 1906.) — 
Select Charters and Other Documents Illustrative of American History, 
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History^ 1776-1801. (ed., N. Y., 1898.) — Select Statutes and Other 
Documents Illustrative of the History of the United States, 1861—1808. 
(ed., N. Y., 1903.) 

McKinley, A. E., Illustrated Topics for American History. (Phila., 1912.) 

McLaughlin, A. C, Confederation and Constitution. (Amer. Nation., N. Y., 
1905.) — Lewis Cass. (Amer. Statesmen, Bost., 1900.) 

Maclay, E. S., History of the United States Navy. (3 vols., N. Y., 1901-02.) 

McMaster, J. B., History of the People of the United States. (8 vols., N. Y., 
1883-1913.) 

Merwin, H. C, Aaron Burr. (Beacon Biogr., Bost., 1899.) — Thomas Jef- 
ferson. (Riverside Biogr., Bost., 1901.) 

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Munro, W. B., Government of American Cities. (N. Y., 1912.) — Selections 
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— Count Frotitenac and New France under Louis XLV. (Bost., 1877.) 

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(N. Y., 1890.) — Al'dshipman Paulding. (N, Y„ 1891,) 



General Bibliography xv 

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(Bost., 1897.) 
Woodburn, J. A., American Politics. (Rev. ed., N. Y., 1914.) 



XVI 



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APPENDIX D 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

(Agreed to, July 4, 1776) 
[From a facsimile of the original parchment] 

In Congress, July 4, 1776 

the unanimous declaration of the thirteen united 
states of america 

ffi!Sf)fn ill the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people 
to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and 
to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to 
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect 
to the opinions of mankind ref|uires that they should declare the causes which 
impel them to the separation. — We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 
all men are created equal, thit they are endowed by their Creator with cer- 
tain unalienable Riglits, that among these are Life, Lilierty and the pursuit 
of Happiness. — -That to secure these rights. Governments are instituted among 
Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. — That when- 
ever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right 
of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, lay- 
ing its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, 
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Pru- 
dence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be 
changed for light and transient causes ; and accordingly all experience hath 
shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer,while evils are sufferable, 
than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accus- 
tomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably 
the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it 
is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide 
new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance 
of these Colonies ; and such is nowthe necessity which constrains them to alter 
their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of 
Great Britain is a histi)ry of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in 
direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. 
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. — He has refused his 

xviii 



Declaration of Independence xix 

Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. — He 
has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing impor- 
tance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; 
and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. — He has 
refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, 
unless those people would relinquish the riglit of Representation in the Legis- 
lature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. — He has 
called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant 
from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing 
them into compliance with his measures. — He has dissolved Representative 
Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the 
rights of the people. — He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, 
to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of 
Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State 
remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from with- 
out, and convulsions within. — He has endeavoured to prevent the population 
of these States ; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of 
Foreigners ; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and 
raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. — He has obstructed 
the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing 
Judiciary powers. — He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the 
tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. — He has 
erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to har- 
rass our people, and eat out their substance. — He has kept among us, in times 
of peace. Standing .Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. — He has 
affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil 
power. — He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign 
to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws ; giving his Assent to 
their Acts of pretended Legislation : — For quartering large bodies of armed 
troops among us : — For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for 
any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States : — 
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world : — For imposing Taxes 
on us without our Consent : — For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits 
of Trial by Jury: — For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended 
offences : — For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring 
Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its 
Boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for intro- 
ducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: — For taking away our 
Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the 
Forms of our Gt)vernments : — For suspending our own Legislatures, and declar- 
ing themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. — 
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and 
waging War against us. — He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, 
burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our people. ■ — He is at this time 
transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of 
death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty 
& perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy 



XX Appendix D 

the Head of a civilized nation. — Fie lias constrained our fellow Citizens taken 
Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the 
executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their 
Hands. — He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has en- 
deavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian 
Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of 
all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have 
Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms : Our repeated Petitions 
have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is 
thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler 
of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish 
brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their 
legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have re- 
minded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. 
We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have con- 
jured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, 
which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They 
too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, 
therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, r-iid hold 
them, as we hold the rest of mankind, F'nemies in War, in Peace Friends. — 

fflSSf, tl^prtforf, the Representatives of the unftcli States cf 9mertca, in General 
Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the 
rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good 
People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United 
Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, JTrce ant) InticpcnDcnt States ; that they 
are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political 
connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be 
totally dissolved ; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full 
Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, 
and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right 
do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the 
protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, 
our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. 

JOHN HANCOCK. 

[Signatures of representatives of the thirteen States, affixed under date of 
August 2, 1776.] 



APPENDIX E 

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 
OF AMERICA (1787)1 

(Submitted Sept. 17, 1787 ; in force April 30, 1789) 

[The following text of the Federal Constitution, including the Amendments 
thereto, is reprinted with the accompanying notes from American History 
Lea/lets, No. 8, for which the original parchment rolls were compared.] 

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, 
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common de- 
fence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty 
to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION 
for the United States of America. 

ARTICLE. L 

Section, i. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a 
Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of 
Representatives. 

Section. 2. [§i.] The House of Representatives shall be composed of Mem- 
bers chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the 
Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of 
the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. 

[§ 2.] No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the 
Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, 
and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he 
shall be chosen. 

[§ 3.] Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the 
several States which may be included within this Union, according to their 
respective Numbers, [which shall be determined by adding to the whole 
Number of free Persons,] - including those bound to Service for a Term of 
Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, [three fifths of all other Persons].^ 
The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first 
Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent 

1 There is no title in the original manuscriptr 

2 Modified by Fourteenth Amendment. 

* Superseded by Fourteenth Amendment, 
xxi 



xxii Appendix E 

Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Nutnb«f 
of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand. DUl each 
State shall have at Least one Representative; [and until such enumeration 
shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, 
Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecti- 
cut five, New-York six. New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, 
Maryland sk, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carohna five, and 
Georgia three.] ^ 

[§ 4. J When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the 
Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Va- 
cancies. 

[§ 5-] The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other 
Officers ; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. 

Section. 3. [§ i.] The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two 
Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereot;- for six Years ; 
and each Senator shall have one Vote. 

[§ 2.] Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first 
Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The 
Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of 
the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration or the fourth Year, 
and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third 
maybe chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, 
or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, [the Executive 
thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the 
Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.] 2 

[§ 3'] No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age 
of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who 
shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be 
chosen. 

[§ 4.] The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. 

[§ 5.] The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro 
tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the 
Office of President of the United States. 

[§ 6.] The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When 
sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the 
President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside : And 
no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the 
Members present. 

[§ 7.] Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to 
removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, 
Trust or Profit under the United States : but the Party convicted shall never- 
theless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punish- 
ment, according to Law. 

Section. 4. [§ i.] The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for 

1 Temporary clause. 2 Superseded by Seventeenth Amendment. 



Constitution of the United States xxiii 

Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legis- 
lature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such 
Regulations, except as to the Places of chasing Senators. 

[§ 2.] The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such 
Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law 
appoint a different Day. 

Section. 5. [§ i.] Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, fveturns 
and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall consti- 
tute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day 
to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent Members, 
in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide. 

[§ 2.] Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its 
Members for Disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, 
expel a Member. 

[§ 3.] Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to 
time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require 
Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any 
question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the 
Journal. 

[§ 4.] Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the 
consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place 
than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Section. 6. [§ i.] The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Com- 
pensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the 
Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony 
and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance 
at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from 
the same ; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be 
questioned in any other Place. 

[§ 2.] No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he 
was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United 
States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have 
been encreased during such time ; and no Person holding any Office under the 
United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in 
Office. 

Section. 7. [§ i.] All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House 
of Representatives ; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments 
as on other Bills. 

[§ 2.] Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and 
the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of 
the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, 
with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall 
enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If 
after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the 
Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which 
it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, 
it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall 
hart's new amer. hist. — 42 



XXIV Appendix E 

be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and 
against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If 
any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays ex- 
cepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a Law. in 
like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment 
prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law. 

[§ 3-] Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question 
of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and 
before the same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disap- 
proved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of 
Representatives, accordiag to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case 
of a biU. 

Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power [§ i.] To lay and collect Taxes, 
Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common 
Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts 
and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;^ 

[§ 2.] To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; 

[§ 3'] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several 
States, and with the Indian tribes; 

[§ 4.] To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws 
on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; 

[§ 5.] To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and 
fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; 

[§ 6.] To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and 
current Coin of the United States; 

[§ 7'] To establish Post Offices and post Roads; 

[§ 8.] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for 
limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective 
Writings and Discoveries; 

[§ 9'] To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; 

[§ 10.] To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high 
Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations; 

[§ II.] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make 
Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; 

[§ 12.] To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to 
that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; 

[§ •3'] To provide and maintain a Navy; 

[§ 14.] To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and 
naval Forces; 

[§ 'SO To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the 
Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; 

[§ 16.] To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, 
and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the 
United States, reserving to the States respectively the Appointment of the 

1 Extended by Sixteenth Amendment. 



Constitution of the United States xxv 

Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline 
prescribed by Congress; 

[§ '7'] To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such 
District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular 
States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government 
of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased 
by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for 
the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful 
Buildings; — And 

[§ i8.] To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this 
Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department 
or Officer thereof. 

Section. 9. [§ i.] [The Migrati/Dn or Importation of such Persons as any of 
the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited 
by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but 
a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars 
for each Person, j^ 

[§ 2.] The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, 
unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it. 

[§ 3-] ^'^ -f^'^l of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.- 

[§ 4.] No Capitation, or other direct. Tax shall be laid, unless in Propor- 
tion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken. 

[§ 5.] No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. 

[§ 6.] No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or 
Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another : nor shall Vessels 
bound to, or from, one State be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in 
another. 

[§ 7O ^"0 Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of 
Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and x\ccount of the 
Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time 
to time. 

[§ 8.] No Title of ^Jobility shall be granted by the United States : And no 
Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the 
Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of 
any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.^ 

Section, id. [§ i.] No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Con- 
federation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills 
of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment 
of Debts ; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the 
Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. 

[§ 2.] No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts 
or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary 
for executing its inspection Laws : and the net Produce of all Duties and 

1 Temporary provision, 

2 Extended by the first eight Amendments. 

8 Extended by Ninth and Tenth Amendments. 



xxvi Appendix E 

Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the 
Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the 
Revision and Controul of the Congress. 

[§ 3-] ■'^'^ State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of 
Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any 
Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or 
engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will 
not admit of delay. ^ 

ARTICLE. II. 

Section, i. [§ l.] The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the 
United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four 
Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be 
elected, as follows 

[§ 2.] Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof 
may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators 
and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress : but 
no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit 
under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. 

[The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for 
two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same 
State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted 
for, and of the Number of Votes for each ; which List they shall sign and 
certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United 
States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate 
shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all 
the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the 
greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Major- 
ity of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than 
one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the 
House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for 
President ; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on 
the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in 
chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation 
from each State having one Vote ; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of 
a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all 
the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of 
the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Elec- 
tors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more 
who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice 
President.]''^ 

[§ 3-] The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and 
the Day on which they shall give their Votes ; which Day shall be the same 
throughout the United States. 

1 Extended by Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. 

2 Superseded by Twelfth Amendment. 



Constitution of the United States xxvii 

[§ 4.] No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United 
States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to 
the Office of President ; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who 
shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-tive Years, and been fourteen 
Years a Resident within the United States. 

[8 5.] In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, 
Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, 
the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law 
provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation, or Inability, both of 
the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as 
President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be 
removed, or a President shall be elected. 

[§ 6.] The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Com- 
pensation, which shall neither be encrease-l nor diminished during the Period 
for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that 
Period any other Emcilument from the United States, or any of them. 

[§ 7-] Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the fol- 
lowing Oath or Affirmation : — 

" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of 
« President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, 
"protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." 

Section. 2. [§ i.] The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army 
and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when 
called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opin- 
ion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, 
upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he 
shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the 
United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. 

[§ 2.] He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the 
Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; 
and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, 
shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the 
supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appoint- 
ments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established 
by Law : but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior 
Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, 
or in the Heads of Departments. 

[§ 3.] The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may 
happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall 
expire at the End of their next Session. 

Section. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information 
of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Meas- 
ures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary 
Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagree- 
ment between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may 
adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Am- 
bassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be 



xxviii Appendix E 

faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United 
States. 

Section. 4. The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the 
United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Con- 
viction of. Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE. III. 

Section, i. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in 
one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time 
to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior 
Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated 
Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be dimin- 
ished during their Continuance in Office. 

Section. 2. [§ i.] The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law 
and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, 
and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority ; — to all 
Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; — to all 
Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; — to Controversies to which 
the United States shall be a Party; — to Controversies between two or more 
States; — between a State and Citizens of another State; 1 — between Citizens 
of different States, — between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands 
under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, 
and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. 

[§ 2.] In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Con- 
suls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have 
original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme 
Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such 
Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make. 

[§ 3'] The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by 
Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall 
have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial 
shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed. 

Section. 3. [§ i.] Treason against the United States, shall consist only in 
levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid 
and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testi- 
mony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. 

[§ 2.] The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, 
but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture 
except during the Life of the Person attainted. 

ARTICLE. IV. 

Section, i. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the pub- 
lic Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the 
Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, 
Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof. 

1 Limited by Eleventh Amendment. 



Constitution of the United States xxix 

Section. 2. [§ i.] The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privi- 
leges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. ^ 

[§ 2.] A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, 
who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand 
of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, 
to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime. 

[§ 3-] [No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regula- 
tion therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered 
up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.]2 

Section. 3. [§ i.] New States may be admitted by the Congress into this 
Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction 
of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more 
States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States 
concerned as well as of the Congress. 

[§ 2.] The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful 
Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to 
the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to 
Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State. 

Section. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union 
a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against 
Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when 
the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence. 

ARTICLE. V. 

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, 
shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the 
Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for 
proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and 
Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of 
thre€ fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, 
as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; 
Provided [that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One 
thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and 
fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and] ^ that no State, 
without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. 

ARTICLE. VI. 

[§ I.] All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the 
Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States 
under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.* 

1 Extended by Fourteenth Amendment. 

2 Superseded by Thirteenth Amendment £o far as it relates to slaves. 
^ Temporary provision. 

* Extended bv Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4. 



XXX Appendix E 

[§ 2.] This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall 
be made in Pursuance thereof ; and all Treaties made, or which shall be 
made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme 
Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, 
any Thing in the Constitution or I,aws of any State to the Contrary notwith- 
standing. 

[§ 3-] ^^^ Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Mem- 
bers of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, 
both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or 
Affirmation, to support this Constitution ; but no religious Test shall ever be 
required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United 
States. 

ARTICLE. VII. 

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the 
Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same. 

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Con- 

riM 4 f^u J i,i. sent of the States present the Seventeenth Day 

iNote of the draughtsman as r c- ^ ,_ • ^i t7 r t , ,, 

. • ^ ,■ ^- - ^u i ^ ^ of September m the Year of our Lord one thou- 
to mterlmeations m the tevt of , ^ i , j , t^- , , r , 

^, . ,T sand seven hundred, and Lightv seven and or the 

the manuscript.! , , , r ^i tt •. j o. x r a 

... ■' Independence or the United States of America 

ixr,,,,.w T ^..o^.T the Twelfth In Witness whereof We have 

WILLIAM ACKSON. , ^ i_ •, , 

,. -' hereunto subscribed our names. 

^iecremry. Go WASHINGTON — 

Pi esidt and deputy frojn Virginia. 
[Signatures of members of the Convention, j^ 



[AMENDMENTS.] 

ARTICLES in addition to and Amendment of the Constitution of the 
United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legis- 
latures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original 
Constitution. "-^ 

[ARTICLE I.]3 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or pro^ 
hibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of 
the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition 
the Government for a redress of grievances. 

[ARTICLE II.] 

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, 
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. 

1 These signatures have no other legal force than that of attestation. 

2 This heading appears only in the joint resolution submitting the first ten 
amendments. 

3 In the original manuscripts the first twelve amendments have no numbers. 



Constitution of the United States xxxi 

[ARTICLE III.] 

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the 
consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed 
by law. 

[ARTICLE IV.] 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and 
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and 
no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or 
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the 
persons or things to be seized. 

[ARTICLE v.] 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous 
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases 
arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in 
time of War or public danger ; nor shall any person be subject for the same 
offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in 
any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of hfe, liberty, 
or property, without due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken 
for public use, without just compensation. 

[ARTICLE VI.] 

In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy 
and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the 
crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously as- 
certained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusa- 
tion • to be confronted with the witnesses against him ; to have' compulsory 
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of 
Counsel for his defence. 

[ARTICLE VII.] 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shaTl exceed twenty 
dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a 
jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than 
according to the rules of the common law. 

[ARTICLE VIII.] 

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel 
and unusual punishments inflicted. 

[ARTICLE IX.] 

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be con- 
strued to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 



xxxii Appendix E 

[ARTICLE X.] 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor pro- 
hibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the 
people. 1 

[ARTICLE XL] 2 

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to 
any suit in Is^w or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United 
States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign 
State. 

[ARTICLE XII.] ^ 

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for 
President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhab- 
itant of the same state with themselves ; they shall name in their ballots the 
person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as 
Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as 
President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number 
of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed 
to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President 
of the Senate ; — The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes 
shall then be counted ; — The person having the greatest number of votes for 
President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole 
number of Electors appointed ; and if no person have such majority, then 
from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list 
of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose 
immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the 
votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one 
vote ; a quprum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from 
two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to 
a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President 
whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day 
of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in 
the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. — The 
person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the 
Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors 
appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest num- 
bers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the 
purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a 
majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person 

1 Amendments First to Tenth appear to have been in force from Nov. 3. 1791. 

2 Proclaimed to be in force Jan. 8, 1798. 

• Proclaimed to be in force Sept. 25, 1804, 



Constitution of the United States xxxiii 

constitutionally ineligible to the oiSce of President shall be eligible to that of 
Vice-President of the United States. 

ARTICLE XIII.i 

Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punish- 
ment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist 
within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Sec- 
tion 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate 
legislation. 

ARTICLE XIV.2 

Section i. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject 
to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State 
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall 
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ; nor 
shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due 
process of law ; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal 
protection of the laws. 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States 
according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons 
in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at 
any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the 
United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers 
of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the 
male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens 
of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in 
rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced 
in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the 
whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, 
or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, 
under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an 
oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a 
member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any 
State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in 
insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the 
enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, 
remove such disability. 

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized 
by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for 
services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. 
But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt 
or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United 

1 Proclaimed to be in force Dec. 18, 1865. Bears the unnecessary approval of 
the President. 

2 Proclaimed to be in force July 28, 1868. 



xxxiv Appendix E 

States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such 
debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. 

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate 
legislation, the provisions of this article. 

ARTICLE XV.i 

Section i. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be 
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, 
color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by ap- 
propriate legislation. 

ARTICLE XVI.2 

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from 
whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, 
and without regard to any census or enumeration. 

ARTICLE XVII. 3 

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from 
each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years ; and each Senator 
shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications 
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. 

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, 
the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such 
vacancies : Provided, That the legislature of any State shall empower the 
executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the 
vacancies by election as the legislature may direct. 

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or terna 
of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution. 

ARTICLE XVIII.* 

Section i. After one year from the ratification of this article the manu- 
facture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation 
thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory 
subject to the jurisdiction th«reof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. 

Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent 
power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been rati- 
fied as an amendment to the Constitution by the Legislatures of the several 
States, as provided by the Constitution, within seven years from the date of 
the submission hereof to the States by the Congress. 

1 Proclaimed to be in force Mar. 30, 1870. 

2 Proclaimed to be in force Feb. 25, 1913. 
8 Proclaimed to be in force May 31, 1913. 
4 Ratified by 36 states Jan. 16, 1919. 



Constitution of the United States xxxv 

ARTICLE XIX.i 

Section i. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be 
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power, by appropriate legislation, to en- 
force the provisions of this arttcle. 

1 Proclaimed to be in force Aug. 26, 1920. 



INDEX 



Diacritic marks : a as in late ; a as in fat ; a as in far ; a as in care ; d as in last ; a as 
in ,fall ; e, eli as in ca^k, cliasm ; f as in ice ; o as in me \ e as in met, berry ; g as in veil ; 
G as in term ; g as in gem ; g as in j?o ; i as in tin ; i as in police ; n, the French nasal ; 
6 as in note ; o as in not ; 6 as in .son ; 6 as in for ; o as '\n (1o\ s as in news ; fh as in W« ; 
ii as in tune ; li as in nut ; u as in rude (= <}) ; u as in full ; ii = French w ; y as in my. 
Single italic letters are silent. 



A. B. C. powers, 627 

Abolitionists, 81T, 31S, 319, 882, 412, 431 

in election of 1844, 341 

underground railroad, 351, 384 
Academies, 201 
Aca'dia, 38, 39, 9T, 100 
Acts of Trade, 61, 123 ; see Navigation Acts 
Adair, James, 113 
Adams, Charles Francis, 467, 475 
Adams, John, 126, 128, 133, 151, 169, 22>- 
229, 233 

Declaration of Independence, 154, 155 

on democracy, 200 

President, 22"s-232, 239 

Vice President, 209 
Adams, Jokn Quincy, 280, 292, 300-301, 303, 
316, 319, 361 

Secretary of State, 290, 291, 299 
Adams, Samuel, 131, 133, 135, 153 
Aeroplane, 642, 654 
Agriculture, see Farming 
A-g2<i-nal'do, 561, 564, 567 
Aix-la-Qha-peUe', Peace of, 97 
Al-a-bii'ma, 274, 276, 406, 491, xvi 
Alabama, 440, 441,499 
A'la-m5, 334 

Alaska, 289. 493-494, 530, 570, 612, 634 
Al'b.a-ny (al'-), 40, 61 
Albany Congress, 99, 158 
Albany Regency, 304 
Al'be-marle settlement, 62 
Algeciras (al-je-se'rds), 607 
Al'ger, Sec, 562 
Al-gon'quin Indians, 13, 38 
Alien and Sedition acts, 230-231 
JiMoti-gs', Father, 42 
Al-ta-ma-ha' (al-) River, 63 
Am'a-das, 29 

Amendments, to Articles of Confederation, 
181 



Amendments, to federal Constitution, 211- 
212, 283, 486, 488, 491, 495, 625, 661 

America, origin of name, 23 

American Federation of Labor, 549 

American party, 391 

American system, of Clay, 277, 302 

Amnesty, 479, 487, 495 

Anderson, Major Robert, 406, 412, 415 

An'dersonville prison, 478 

An'dre, Major John, 147 

An'dros, Sir Edmund, 62, 67 

Annap'olis (Md.) Convention, 182 

Annapolis, N. S., 38 

An'tho-ny, Susan B., 311 

An-tie'tam, battle, 447 

Anti-Federalists, 187, 188, 219 

Antiniasonic party, 303 

Antino'mians, 53 

Antirent disturbances, 388 

Antislavery, 174, 275, 306, 319, 407 

A-pa'chg Indians, 588 

Appalach'ian Mountains, 8, 438 

Appomat'tox, 459 

Architecture, 204; see Church buildings, 
and Houses 

Ar'gall, 39 

Argenti'na, see La Plata 

Aristocracy, 200 

Arizona, 848, 506, 582, xvl 

Ar'kan-sas, 352, 416, 485, xvi 

Arma'da, Spanish, 30 

Armstrong, Sec, 260 

Army, in Civil War, 439, 475 
in Revolution, 137, 139, 141 
in Spanish War, 562 
in War of 1812, 255, 259, 260 
in war with Germany, 652-657 

Army of the Potomac,"442, 444, 446, 448, 451, 
458, 459 

Arnold, Benedict, 137, 143, 147 



XXXVll 



XXXVlll 



Index 



A-roos'took War, 339 
Art, 203 

Arthur, Chester A., 523 
Articles of Confederation, 158-159, 168, 174, 
175, 17S, 180 
amendments proposed, 181 
Articles of Confederation, New England, 52- 

53, 158 
Ag'bury, Francis, 204 
Ash'burton treaty, 339 
Asia, medieval trade with, 8, 4, 18 
A-sien'to, 121 
Assembly, colonial, 45, 86 
Associated Press, 314 
Association of 1774, 133 
Astor, John Jacob, 196, 245, 375, 37T 
Asto'ria, Oregon, 245, 258, 288 
As'trolabe, 2 
Asylums, 310 
Athletics, 425 
Atlanta, 454 

Austin, Moses and Stephen F., 333 
Australian ballot, 644 
Ayllon (il-you), dg, 24 
A-zor^g', 4 
Az'tecs, 13, 24 

Backwoods'men, 177 

Bacon, Nathaniel, 64 

Bainbridge, 239 

Baker Island, 571, 635 

Bal-bO'a, 23 

Bal'ti-more (city), 193, 258, 416 

Baltinlore, Lord, 49 

Bancroft, George, 314, 427 

Bank, United States, 216-218, 295 

second, 297-298, 326-327, 331, 833 
Banks, national, 214, 469, 511 

savings, 511 

state, 198, 333, 376, 470 
Baptists, 51 ; see Churches 
Barlow, Joel, 202 
Bar'low«, 29 

Battle above the Clouds, 450 
£ai/ PKdlm Book, 11 
Baf'ou Man-fhac', 240 
Bean*-, William, 160 
Bear Flag Republic, 347 
Beau're-gard (bo'-), Gen., 415, 441 
Beia-nap, William W., 512 
Bell, Alexander Graham, 514 
Bell, John, 402 

Belleau (bel-lO') Wood, battle, 656 
Benton, Thomas H., 325, 341 
Be'ring Sea controversy, 570 
Berk«'ley, 59, 64, 75 
Berlin' Decree, 248 



Bes'se-mer steel, 513 

Biddle, Nicholas, 326 

Bill of Rights, 157, 188 

Bi-lox'i, 94 

Birney, James G., 317, 341 

Bison (buffaloes), 9, 11, 25, 377, 679 

Black, Jeremiah, 406 

Black Hawk War, 361 

Black Hills, 506, 580 

Black Warrior, 388 

]}laine, James G., 519, 523, 524, 525, 526, 529 

Blair, Montgomery, 414 

Bland, Richard P., 522 

Blockade, 224, 435, 467, 468, 629 

Blockade runners, 440, 455 

Bloomer, Mrs., 311 

Board of Trade, 67, 84, 99 

Bol'i-var, Gen. Simon, 285 

Bon Homme Richard (bo-n6m're-8har'), 

146 
Bonree'viUe, 340 
Bonus Bill, 272 
Boone, Daniel, 160, 161 
Bosses, 323, 423, 619 
Boston, 78, 193, 371, 424 

in Revolution, 131, 186, 18T 

Tea Party, 132, 153 
Bounty land, 359 
Boxers, in China, 574 
Boycott, 550 
Braddock, "Gen., 101 
Bradford, William, 77 
Bragg, Gen., 443, 450, 451 
Bran'dy-wine, battle, 142 
Bra-zil', 22, 34, 285 
Breadstuffs, 378 
Breck'in-ridge, John C, 402 
Bridges, 197, 508-509 
Bright, John, 468 
British, see Great Britain 
Brown, John, 391, 898 
Brush, Charles F., 514 
Bryan, William J., 534, 564, 566, 605, 613, 

622 
Bryant, William CuUen, 314 
Bu-eAan'an, James, 892, 894, 405-406, 412 
Bu'ell, Gen., 443 
Bue'na Vis'ta, battle, 347 
Bull Run, 441, 447 
Bunker Hill, 136 
Burgesses, 45 
Bur-goyn«', Gen., 142, 143 
Burke, Edmund, 127. 152 
Bur'lin-game Treaty, 505 
Burns, Anthony, 386-887 
Burnside, Gen., 447 
Burr, Aaron, 233, 245-246 



Index 



xxxix 



Business, 107-124, 195-196, 215. 375, 503-504, 

Ul-Giii 
Butler, Gen. Benjamin F., 444, 470 
Butte, Montana, 5U6 
Byl'lyng«, 59 
Byrd, Col. William, 77, 116 

Cal)inet, 210-211, 599, 602, 623 

Cable, submarine, 513 

Cab'ot, John and Sebastian, 22 

Ca-bral', 22 

Caho'kia, 159, 163 

Cal-hi.)Mn', John C, 280, 299, 329, 353 

in Congress, 254, 272 

nullification, 302-303, 327, 32S 

tariff, 297 

Tyler's Secretary of State, 341 
California, 25, 289, 344, 347, 620, 634, xvi 

ffold in, 34S-349, 378 

slavery question, 350, 351, 852, 355 
Calverts, 49 
Calvin, John, 80, 82 
Camden, battle, 147 
Cam'eron, Simon, 414, 423, 489 
Camp meeting, 206, 273 
Campaign expenses, 620, 621 
Canada, 69, 103 

in War of 1812, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258 

trade with, 615 
Canal Zone, 605, 635 
Canals, 197, 272-273, 309-371; see Panama 

Canal, Erie Canal 
Canning-, George, 290 
Cannon, Joseph G., 615 
Canoe, 10, 269 

Cantigny (kaN-tun-yC'), battle, 656 
Capital of U. S., 212-213 
Carolina, 62, 63 

Carpetbaggers, 491, 494, 495, 497 
Car-ran'za (-tha), 626, 627 
Car'ter-et, Sir George, 59 
Car-tha-ge'na, 36 

Cartier, Jacques (zhak kar-tya'), 26 
Carver, John, 46 
Cii'sa dg Con-trac-tii-ci-on', 69 
Cass, Lewis, 350, 351 
Catholics, 42, 49, 205, 338 ; see Churches 
Cattle raising, 588 
Caucus, 153, 300 
Ca-vi'tg, 561 

Ca-yu'gas, 41 ; see Iroquois 
Cedar Creek, battle, 458 
Census, see Population 
Centennial Exposition. .519 
Central America, 25, 2S5, 493 
Cervera (thar-va'ra). Admiral, 563 
Cham'bersburg, 452 



Qham-i)lain', Samuel de, 38 
Chan'cellorsville, battle, 448 
Charles I, 47, 48, 49, 52, 58 
Charles II, 57, 58 
Charleston, 62, 193, 224, 423 
in Civil War, 404, 400, 415, 455, 458, 475 
in Ucvolution, 141, 147, 148 
Chase, Philander, Bishop, 273 
Chase, Sal'mon P., 353, 414, 475, 490 
Chase, Samuel, 240 
Chateau-Thierry (sha-to'-tyar-re'), battle of, 

656 
Chat'Aam, Earl of; see Pitt 
Chattanoo'ga, 449-450 
Cher-o-kees', 13-14, 161, 361 
Cherry Valley, N. Y., 162 
(Jhes'n-peake, 248, 255 
Chi-ca'go, 267, 363, 424, 512, 540, 551, 552 
Chickamau'ga, battle, 449-450 
Chick'a-saws, 14, 361 
Child labor, 307, 309 
Chi'lg, difficulty with, 525, 529 

independence of, 285 
Chillicoth'e, 219 
China, Boxer outbreak, 574 

treaty ^vith, 373 
Chinese immigration, 505, 516, 553, 592 
Chip'pe-wa, battle, 258 
Choc'taws, 14, 361 
Christian Commission, 476 
Christina, Ft., 41 
Church buildings, 81, 204 
Churches, 51, 53, 6], 80, 82-83, 204-207, 428 
Ci'bo-la, 25 
Cincinnii'ti, 219, 424 

Cities, 307, 323, 423, 538-540, 556, 584, 636, 637 
City Manager, 621 
Civil Eights Acts, 488, 495 
Civil service, 239, 326 

Commission, 554, .599 

reform, 494, 523, 564-555, 559-560 
Civil War, 435-460 

cost, 480-481 

economic results of, 503 
Clark, George Rogers, 162-163 
Clark, William, 244 
Classified service, 523, 526, 554, 599 
Clay, Henry, 277, 289, 299, 302, 360 

compromises, 279, 328, 352, 353 

presidential candidate, 300, 327, 341 

tariff, 297 

U. S. Bank, 827 

War of 1812, 254 
Clayton Antitrust Act, 624 
Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 350, 602 
Clermont, 270 
Cleveland, 219, 424, 531 



hart's new amer. hist. — 43 



xl 



Index 



Cleveland, Grover, 526, 527, 528, 532, 552, 

554, 577 
Clinton, De Witt, 261, 272 
Clinton, George, 190, 245 
Coal mining, 266, 365, 429, 581, 582 
Coinage, 216, 295, 332, 376, 378, 476, 498, 522 
Coke, Thomas, 204 
Cold Harbor, battle, 451 
Colleges, 75, 76, 83, 202, 274, 313, 425, 426, 

586 
Co-16ni'bi-a, 285, 349, 524, 605 

treaties with, 350, 603 
Colonial, business, 107-124 

System, 61 

trade, 34, 61 
Colonies, English, 29, 31, 43-51, 69 

government, 84—88 

life and industry, 73-75, 151 

See names of colonies 
Colonization, 34—35 
Col-o-ra'do, 506, xvi 
Colorado River, 592 
Columbia, S. C, 458 
Columbia College, 83 
Columbia River, 244, 377, 580, 591 
Columbus, Christopher, 19, 21 
Commerce, colonial, 120-122 

neutral, 246-248 

Pacific, 378 

under Confederation, 172-173 

under Constitution, 195-196, 511 ; see 
Tariff, and Interstate commerce 
Commercial panics and crises, 332, 360, 379 
Commercial treaties, 172, 226, 232, 262, 333, 

570, 627 
Commission government, 620, 621, 644 
Committees of Correspondence, 131, 153 
Compromise of 1850, 352-355, 382 
Compromises of the Constitution, 185-186 
Concord, battle, 135 
Confederacy, Southern, 407, 435 

government, 466-467, 470, 477, 484 

military strength, 438, 439, 410 
Confederates, punishment of, 484, 489, 491 
Confederation, 158-159, 168-182 

weakness, 180-181 
Confiscation, in Civil "War, 472 

in Revolution, 152, 171 
Congress, Albany, 99, 158 
Congress, Continental, 133-134, 136 
Congress, Stamp Act, 130 
Congress of the Confederation, 168-169, 170, 

175, 176, 178, 180, 181 
Congress under the Constitution, 187, 209, 
217-218, 253, 261, 279, 316, 344 

powers over slavery, 384-385 

reconstruction by, 488-489, 491 



Connect'icut, 50, 58, 62, 67, 84, 85, 86, 156, 
175, 176, xvi 

western claims, 165, 219 
Connecticut Compromise, 185 
Conservation, 610-613 
Constantinople, 3 
Constellation, 232 
Constitution, 256, 257 
Constitution of U. 8., xxi-xxxiv 

amendments to, 211-212, 233, 486, 488, 491, 
495, 625 

analysis of, 186-187 

arguments about, 214-216 

making of, 18f-lS6 

ratification, 187-190 

theories of, 220, 385 
Constitutional Convention, 182-185 
Constitutional Union Part}', 402 
Constitutions of the states, 156-157, 422, 

594 
Consular service, 600 
Continental Congress, First, 133-134 

Second, 136 
Contraband, 225, 226, 629 
"Contrabands," slaves, 456, 470-471 
Conventions, party, 201, 327 
Conway Cabal, 145 
Cooper, James Fenimore, 313 
Cooper, Peter, 374 
Copley, 203 
■' Copperheads," 465 
Corinth, 443 
Corn, 12, 110, 582 
Corn-wal'lis, Lord, 147, 148 
Co-ro-nii'do (-fho), 25 
Corporations, 375, 429, 511, 512, 542, 619 

control of, 543, 547-549, 601, 614, 616, 
624, 625 
Cor'tes, Hernando, 24 
Corwin Amendment, 411 
Cotton, 195, 421, 477, 582, 584, 585 
Cotton gin, 195, 432 
Council, colonial, 86 
County government, 87, 277 
CoM-reurs' de bois (bwa), 69 
Courts, 86, 87, 187, 212, 240, 298-299 
Cowpens, battle, 147 
Crawford, William H., 299 
Crs-di<' Mo-bi-lier' (-lya'), 512 
Creeks, 14, 253. 361 
Crevecoeur (krav-ker'). Ft., 92 
Crime of 1873, 498 
Criminals, 199, 309, 310 
Crit' ten-den. Sen., 411 
Cromwell, Oliver, 52, 53 
Cro-zii^', 94, 95 
Cuba, proposed annexation, 288, 887-388 



Index 



xli 



Cuba, relations to U. S., 562, 5G.3, 5G4, 5C9-5TI), 
006, 027, 035 
revolts against Spain, 5U0, 024, 559 
Ciini'berland Itoad, 271 
Ounard Co., 36S 

Currency, see Coinage, and Pa(>er money 
Cush'ing, Caleb, 37S 
Custer, Gen., 507 
Cutler, Manasseh, 179 
-C«y-a-li'">'ga Kiver, 10, 219 

Dakota territory, 506 

Danish West Indies, 493 ; see Virgin Islands 

Dare, Virginia, 29 

Da-ri-cn', 23 

Dart'niouth College, 83, 299 

Dav'enjjort, Rev. John, 50 

Davis, Jefferson, 387, 406-467 

Buchanan and, 405 

captured, 460 

held for treason, 4&4, 490, 495 

President of confederacy, 407, 415 

resolutions of ISOO, 401 

secession views, 411 
Dear'born, Ft., 207 
Debs, Eugene V., 552, 605 
Debtors' laws, 199 
De-cu'tur, 239 
Declaration of ludejiendence, 137, 153-155, 

xviii-.xx 
Declaration of Eights, 133 
Deerfield, 90 
De Grasse', Admiral, 148 
De Kalb', 141 
Delaware, 66, 67, 188, xvi 
Dg Lo'mg, Sj)anish minister, 560 
Demarcation, line of, 22 
Democracy, in America, 200, 284, 323 
Democratic Clubs, 224, 227 
Democratic party, earliest ; see Republican 
party (Democratic) 

Jacksonian, 324, 331, 337 

recent issues, 522, 594, 595 

slavery and, 387, 401, 492 
Denver, 429, 592 
Dependencies, government of, 567-569, 627, 

632, 645 
Deposit Act of 18;36, 382, 833 
Dfi 8o'to, 25 
De« Plaines' River, 11 
De-troit', 94, 159, 255, 424 
Devv'ey, Admiral George, 561 
Diaz (de'iis), Bartholomew, 18 
Diaz, Gen.. 626 
Dickinson, John, 131, 158 
Dingley tarifif, 566, 613 
Dinwid'die, Gov., 99 



Direct primary, 595, 619, 621, 644 
Discovery of America, 18, 21, 22, 23 
District of Columbia, 213, 319, 351, 355, 384, 

485 
Dix, Dorothea, 310 
Doctrine of IsoKation, 286 
Doii'elson, Ft., 438, 442, 452 
Don'gan, Gov., 60 
Dorr Rebellion, 33S 
Doug'las, Stephen A., 389-390, 401, 402 

Lincoln and, 397, 398, 410 

slavery views, 388, 390, 396 
Draft, 200, 465, 475 
Drake, Sir Francis, 28, -30 
Draper, Dr., 430 

Dred Scott decision, 394-395, 401 
Dress, 74, 121, 311 
Du-ane', 331 
Duke's Laws, 60 
Du-quesne' (-kan'), Ft., 99, 101 
Dustin, Hannah, 96 
Dutch, colonies, 40-41, 58 

freedom from Spain, 28 

in Connecticut vallej', 40, 53 
Dutch West India Company, 40 

Eads, Capt., 545 
Early, Gen., 461, 454 
East Florida, 244, 288, 634 
East India Company, 57 
Eaton, Theophilus, 50 
Economic changes, 503 
Ed'ison, Thomas A., 514 
Education, 75-76, 201-202, 238, 312, 425-426, 
593, 638, 639 

in South, 586-587 

of girls, 202,425 
Edwards, Rev. Jonathan, 76, 83 
Election, seeXotevs, and Presidential elections 
Electoral Commission, 521 
Electoral Count Act, 555 
Electric devices, 514, 643 
El'i-ot, John, 77 
Elizabeth, Queen, 27, 28, 29 
Emancipation proclamations, 472, 478, 474, 

475, 485 
Embargo Act, 248-249 
Em'erson, Ralph Waldo, 426 
Emigrant aid companies, 391 
England, changes in government, 52, 57, 67, 
95 

claim to North America, 31 

colonies of, see Colonies and Colonial 

discoveries, 22, 27-29 

war with France, 30, 97-103 

war with Spain, 29-31 

See also Great Britain 



xlii 



Index 



Enumerated goods, 128 

Equality, 646 

Era of Good Feeling, 300 

Er'icson, Leif, 18 

Er'icsson, John, 444 

Erie, Pa., 177 

Erie Canal, 272-273 

Er'skin^, British minister, 252 

European background of American history, 

3-7, IS, 52, 57, 58, 66, 95, 223, 283, 306, 

363, 505, 603 
Ev'ans, Oliver, 195, 199 
Ew'ell, Gen., 454 
Excise, 214, 216, 227 

Executive Departraent.s, organized, 210-211 
Ex'eter, N.H., settled, 51 
Exploration, of coast ; xee Discovery 

of interior, 25, 244-245, 340 
Express companies, 432, 615 

Fairbanks, Charles W., 649 
Fair Oaks, battle, 445 
Fall Line, 7 
Far West, 579, 5S8-593, 633 

education, 593 

people, 592 

scenery, 591-592 
Farmers' Alliance, 530 
Farming, 110-111, 194, 421, 584-585 

machinery, 307-36S, 4;31 
Far'ragut, David G., 443, 444, 455 
Federal Convention, 182-186 
Federal, Reserve bill, 624 

Trade Commission, 624 
Federalixt, 188 

Federalist party, 187, 188, 220, 223, 300 
" Fifty-four Forty or Fight," 342 
Fillmore, Millard, 353 
Finance, in Civil War, 469-470 

in l;evolution, 170-172 

in War of 1812, 261 

recent, 497 

under Confederation, 171-172 

under Constitution, 187, 214-216 

See also Public Debt, Tariff, etc. 
Fish, Hamilton, 499 
Fisher, Ft., 455 

Fisheries, 107, 119, 196, 289, 499 
Fitch, John, 199 

Fitz-hiifir/i,', Col. William, 112-113 
Five Nations, see Iroquois 
Flag, United States, 169 
Florida, British, 103 

French in, 26 

purchased by IT. S., 288 

Seminole war, 362 

Spanish, 24, 25, 103, 288 



Florida, state in TJ. 8., 352. 406, xvi 

Floyd, John B., 406 

Foote, Andrew H., 442 

Force Bills, 328, 495 

Forests of United States, 3C5, 589, 611 

Fort Wayne, 267 

Forty-niners, 349 

Fox, Charles James, 127 

France, ally of U. S., 146, 148 

changes in government, 223, 306 

claim to North America, 31, 98 

colonies, 37^39, 09, 240-241 

depredations on U. S. commerce, 225, 229, 
333 

discoveries, 26, 42, 92-95 

Mexican empire, 492— i93 

revolutions, 223, 306 

spoliation claims, 333 

treaties with, 146, 223, 232, 241 

war with England, 66-103, 223, 247 

war with Iroquois, 38, 39 

war with U. S., 231-232 

X. T. Z. controversy, 229-230 
Franklin, state of, 178 
Franklin, Benjamin. 78-79, 139, 169 

Declaration of Independence, 154 

Federal Convention, 182, 1S5, 186 

minister to France, 146 

plan of union, 99, 158 

writings of, 79, 202 
Fraternity, 646 
Fredericksburg, battle, 447 
Free coinage, 522 ; see Coinage. Silver, and 

Gold 
Free Silverites, 605 
Freebooters, 27-29 
Freedman's Bureau, 485, 491 
Freedom, 637-043 
Freeport doctrine, 897-398 
Free-soil party, 351, 387 
Fre-mont', John C, 340, 347, 392, 471 
French, see France 
French and Indian War, 99-103 
French Canadians, 553 
French settlers, 39, 73, 95 
Fre-neau' (-no'), Philip, 202 
Fugitive Slave Acts, 275, 352, 355, 474 
Fugitive slaves, 351, 386-387, 472 
Fulton, Robert, 270 
Fur trade, 37, 42, 107, 340, 376-378 

Gabriel Insurrection, 816 
Gadsden Purchase, 348, 634 
Gag Resolutions, 319 
Gage, Gen. Thomas, 133 
Gal'latin, Albert, 238, 252 
Galloway, Joseph, 152 



Index 



xliii 



Galveston, 620 
Ga'uia, Vas'co da, 22 
Garfield, James A., 523 
Garrison, William Lloyd, 31S, 319 
Gates, Gen., 143, 145 
Genet (zhe-ne'), Edmond, 223, 224 
Geography of U. 8., 7-10, 589 
George III, 127, 152, 153 
Georgia, 68, 73, 406, xvl 

Indian troubles, 361-362 

western claims, 165, 176, 219 
German settlers, 73, 193. 3<«. 364, 505 
Germany, 571, 607, 629, 647-660 
Ge-rou'i-rao, 16 
Ger'ry, Elbridge, 230 
Gerrymander, 323, 565 
Gettysburg, battle, 448-449 
G^eiit, treaty of, 261-262 
Gid'dings, Joshua R., 320 
Gilbert, Sir Humi>hrey, 27, 29 
Girard, Stephen, 295, 296 
Girdled Eoad, 219 
Glad'st6n6, 468 
Goethals, Maj. Geo. W., 610 
Gold, 349, 366, 421, 429, 49S, 499, 522, 566, r<:n 

money, see Coinage 
Good Hope, Ft., 40 
Good'year, Charles, 430 
Gorgas, Col., 610 
Gor'ges, Ferdinando, 51 
Gor'such, 386 
G<..)idd, Jay, 548 
Government, city, 61, 540, 620 

colonial, 84-88, 157-158 ; see names of 
colonies 

confederate, 466-467 

dependencies, 567-569, 627, 632, 645 

local, 277, 645 

popular, 643-644 

Union, 464—465 

U. S., 209-212, 329, 644-645 
Gra-na'da, 5 
Grand Model, 62 
" Grandfather clause," 594 
Grangers, 520 
Grant, Ulysses 8., 452-453, 477, 523 

campaigns in East, 451, 456, 459, 460 

campaigns in West, 442, 443, 447— Wn, 450 

President, 494, 496, 499, 500 
Gray, Oapt. Robert, 244 
Grayson, ordinance, 176 
Great Britain, 95, 172, 173, 629 ; see England 

boundary controversies, 288, 333, 339, 343 

depredations on U. 8. commerce, 225, 246- 
249 

during Civil War, 440, 467-469, 474, 499 

Isthmian canal, S50 



Great Britain, treaties (1783) 170, (1794) 226, 
247, (1814) 261-262, (1818) 288 
Venezuelan boundary, 532 
wars with France, 66-103, 223, 247 
wars with U.S., 138-148, 254-260 

Great Plains, 9 

Great War of 1914, 607, 628-629, 647-«660 

Greater New York, 556 

Greece, 306 

Greeley, Horace, 391, 473, 496 

Green, Dutf, 325 

Greenback party, 520, 522 

Greenbacks, 469, 477, 497, 498, 511, 521-522 

Greene, Gen. Nathanael, 147 

Greenville, treaty of, 219 

Griffon (gre-foN'), 92 

(iuara (gwam), 564, 634 

Gua-nii-han'i, 19 

Giierriere (gar-ryar'), 257 

G;fi-a'na, 532 

Gttil'ford, battle, 147 

Gu'ten-berg, printer, 2 

Tlr.gM?, 571, 608 

[fun Co/umbia, 230 

llfi/'ti, 19, 241, 627, 635 

llak'luyt, 31 

llalleck. Gen., 443 

Mam'ilton, Alexander, and Adams, 233 

biography, 144, 213-214, 220, 223 

Burr and, 246 

Constitution, 182, 184, 188, 190 

Secretary of the Treasury, 211, 214, 215, 
216, 217 
Hamilton, Henry, 163 
Hampton Roads conference, 460 
Hancock, John, 119, 129, 188, 189, 196 
Hancock, Winfleld S., 522 
Flanna, Marcus A., 565 
Harding, V.'arrcn G., 662 
Harnden, William F., 432 
Harpers Ferry, 398 
Harris, Joel Chandler, 587 
Harrison, Benjamin, 528, 531 
Harrison, William II., 253, 258, 337, 338 
Hartford. 50, 62; Convention, 261 
Harvard College, 75 
llri'ver-Mll, Mass., 96 
H;i-w«i'ian Islands, 378, 570-571, 634 
Hawkins, Sir John, 27 
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 314, 426 
Hay, John, 5G4, 574, 599 
Hay-Pauncefote treaty, 603 
Haycj, Riifli'erford B., 519, 520, 521, 524 
Hayne, Senator, 827 
Haystack movement, 308 
Henderson, Richard, 161 



xliv 



Index 



Hen'nepin, Father, 92 

Henry, Ft., 4;38, 442 

Henry, Patrick, 129, 130, 133, 152, 153, 163 
189 

Henry VII, 22 

Henry the Navigator, Prince, 4 

Hepburn Act, 606 

Her'kimer, Gen., 143 

Hessian soldiers, 139 

Higginson, Col. T. W., 4T5 

Hill, Gen. A. P. and Gen. D. H., 454 

Hill, James J., 590, 591 

Hispanio'la, 19, 21 

Ho-fhCl'a-ga (St. Lawrence), 26 

Hoe, Richard, 431 

Holland, or the Netherlands, see Dutch 

H6/m«§, Oliver Wendell. 426 

Holy Alliance, 289, 290, 292 

Homestead Act, 506 

Homestead Iron Works, 551 

Honduras, 21, 493 

Hood, Gen., 454, 458 

Hooker, Gen. Josejih, 448 

Hooker, Rev. Thomas, 50 

Hopkinson, 230 

House of Representatives, 209 

Houses, 73, 74, 113, 117, 119, 273 

Hoiis't6n, Sam, 409 

How«, Elias, 480 

Howe, Sir William, 141. 142 

Howland Island, 571, 635 

Hudson, Henry. 40 

Hudson Bay, 68, 97 

Hudson River, 40, 142 

Hudson's Bay Company, 68, 343, 378 

Huerta (wer'tii), 620 

Hughes (huz), Charles E., 649 

Hu'gwe-not colonists, 26, 37, 73, 193 

Hull, Gen., 255 

Humanitarian reform, 306-320 

Hunter, Gen., 471 

Hurons, 42 

Hutchinson, Anne, 53 

Hutchinson, Thomas, 131 

Hy-la-c6m'i-lu8, 23 

i-ber-viUe', 94 
I'daho, 506, 581, xvi 
Illinois', 274, 276, xvi 

County of, 163 
Immigration, 362-365, 505, 537, 552-554, 584 
Impeachment ofPresident Johnson, 492, 555 
" Imperialism," 605 
Implied powers, 217, 218 
Impressments, 225, 226, 246, 247, 255, 262 
Incas, 13 
Income tax, 531, 625 



Indented servants, 199 

Independence, 153-156 

Independent treasury, 333 

Independents (sect), 46 

Indian Territory, 361, 581 

Indian Wars, 45, 50. 62, 96, 159, 218, 253, 507 

Indiana, 219, 274, 276, xvi 

Indians, aboriginal life, 10, 11, 12-16 

behavior in slavery, 115 

controversy with Georgia, 361-362 

in Revolution, 139, 161-lh2 

relations with whites, 69 

removal of, 361-362, 636 

Severalty Act, 588 

" tribes," 15 

warfare, 14, 15, 96-97; see Indian Wars 

See also names of tribes 
Industries, 195, 428-430 

in South, 583, 584 
Initiative, 595, 620, 621 
Insane, care of, 199, 311 
Insular Cases, 568 
Insurance companies, 198, 511 
Intercolonial wars, 97-103 
Internal improvements, 272, 370 
Interstate commerce, 173, 544 
Interstate Commerce Act. 545-547 

Commission, 646, 606, 615 
Intolerable Acts, 132 

Inventions, 198-199, 366-368, 430-432, 512-515 
I'owa, 352, xvi 
Irish immigrants, 864-365 
Iron, 266, 365, 366, 429, 518, 582, 583 
Ir-o-quois', 13, 38, 39, 41, 42, 97, 99, 162, 165 
Irrigation, 589, 612-613 
Irving, Washington, 313 
Isabella of Castile, 6, 19 
Island No. 10, 443 
Island of Orieans, 240, 241 
Isthmian Canal, 349-350, 524, 602-605 
Italian immigrants, 553 

Jackson, Andrew, 300, 324-325 

general, 253, 259, 288 

President, 304, 323, 326-326, 327, 328, 333, 
834, 860, 361 

presidential candidate, 300, 308 
Jackson, James, 252, 255 
Jackson, Gen. Thomas J. ("Stonewall"), 

441, 442, 445, 446, 454 
Jamai'ca, 53 
James II, 62, 66, 67 
Jamestown, 44, 64 
Japan, 378, 553, 592, 607 
Jasper, Sergeant, 141 
Java, 257 
Jay, John, 188, 212, 225 



Index 



xlv 



Jay, treaty with Great Britain, 169. 226 
JeflFerson, Tlioinas, 211, 22T, 2o3, 28T-2;3S 

Declaration of Independence, 154 

Hamilton and, 220, 223 

Kentucky Kesolutions, 231 

on slavery, 200 

ordinance for western territory, 176 

President, 169, 237-249 

Vice President, 22S 

writings of, 203, 241 
Jesuits in America, 39 
Jews, 68, 206 
Jogues (zhog). Father, 42 
Johnson, Andrew, governor, 442 

President, 4S7, 4S8, 491, 492 

Vice President, 475 
Johnson, Sir William, 97 
Johnston, Gen. Albert Sidney, 443 
Johnston, Gen. Joseph E., 441, 445, 454-455, 

459 
Joint stock companies, 198 
Joliet (zho-lya'), 92 
Jones, John Paul, 146 
Juan (hoo-iin') dg Fu'ca, Strait of, 10 
Judiciary Act, 212 
Junta, 559 

Kan'kakee Kiver, 92 

Kansas, 390, 391, 393, 894, 395, 396, 408, 476, 

xvi 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 390, 395 
Karl-sef ni, 18 
Kaskas'kia, 159, 163 
Kear'ney, Dennis, 616 
Keiir'ny, Gen., 347 
Kemble, Fanny, 815 
Kendall, Amos, .325 
Kentucky, 160, 161, 176, 178, 416, 443 

state, 2 IS, xvi 
Kentucky Resolutions, 231 
Key, Francis S., 258 
King, Kufus, 299 
King Philip's War, 62 
Kings Mountain, battle, 147 
Kitchen Cabinet, 325 
Knight, Mrs., 116 
Knights of Labor, 515, 549 
Knights of the Golden Circle, 465 
Know-nothings, 391 
Knox, Henry, 211 
Knoxville, 449 
Kos-fi-iis'ko, 141 
Ku-Klux Klan, 495, 496 

Labor, 113-114, 504, 515, 549, 5S4-5S5, 640- 

641 
La-fhine' Eapids, 26 



Ladies' aid societies, 476 

La-dron«s', 24, 564 

ha.-fa^yiUe', 138, 141, 147 

LaFollette, Kobert, 615 

Laird rams, 474 

Lake Erie, battle, 257 

Lii Plu'ta, 36, 284, 285 

La SaUe', Robert Cavelier, Si§wr dS, 92, 93 

Latin America, 2S4, 286, 290, 292, 524 

Laurens, Henry, 169 

Lawrence, Kan., 391 

Lead, 366 

League of Nations, 659-662 

Le Boeuf, Ft., 98, 99 

Lecomp'ton constitution, 395, 396 

Lee, Anna, 206 

Lee, Fitzhugh, 560 

Lee, Gen. Robert E., 453-454 

captures Brown, 398 

in Civil War, 445, 440, 447, 448, 449, 461, 
459, 460, 495 
Lee, Richard Henry, 1-33, 154 
Leif the Lucky, IS 
Lg-on', Pon'cg Hhfi'> dg, 24 
Leopard, 248 

Lesseps, Ferdinand de, 524 
Lewis, Meriwether, 244 
Lexington, battle, 134-185 
Libby Prison, 478 
Liberal Republicans, 496 
Li-be'ri-a, 276 
Liberty, 645 
Liberty loans, 652 
Liberty party, 341 
Libraries founded, 318 
Life, American colonial, 72-88 

during Civil War, 476-478 

in 1780-1800. 193-207 

in ISGl, 420-4;32 

in the South, 314-316, 422, 429, 504, 582- 
587 

in the West, 273-274 

Indian, 12-16 

slave, 314—310 
Lincoln, Abraham, 273, 861, 365, 396-397, 
472-473 

debates with Douglas, 397 

elected President, 404-412 

on secession, 411 

on the Union, 156 

President, 413, 414, 415, 416, 435, 489, 442, 
446, 451, 460, 46.5, 467, 468, 471, 474, 475, 
478, 479, 486, 487 

representative in Congress, 345, 351 
LIn'otvpe machine, 515 
Literature. 76-78, 202-203, 318-314, 420-428 
Livingston, Robert K., 241, 244 



xlvi 



Index 



Local government, 86-88 

in West, 277 

See also Cities 
Locke, John, 62 
Logrolling, 110 

London Company, 43, 44, 46, 46 
Long Island, battle, 141-142 
Longfellow, Henry W., 426 
Longstreet, Gen., 454 
Lookout Mountain, battle, 450 
" Loose Construction," 217, 220, 298 
Lo'pgz (-pas), in Cuba, 388 
Louisburg, 97, 101 

LoM-'i-si-a'na, province, 93-95, 102, 172, 240- 
241 

Purchase, 241, 634 

state, 243, 274, 275, 406, 485, xvi 
Low'is-ville, 193, 424, 443 
Lovejoy, Elijah, 319 
Low'ell, F. C, 199 

Lowell, James Russell, 314, 318, 345, 427, 646 
Loyalists (Tories), 152, 171, 173, 226 
Lundy, Benjamin, 276 
Lundys Lane, battle, 258 
Lusitania, 629 
Ly-ce'um, 313 
Lynching, 586 
Lyon, Capt., 416 

McClellan, Gen. George B., 442, 444, 445, 

446, 447, 475 
McCormick, Cyrus H., 367 
MacT>on'ouffh, Com., 258 
McDowell, Gen., 441, 445 
Macedonian. 257 

Machinery, 198-199, 358, 512-515, 642, 643 
McKiuley, William, 528, 634, 664, 660, 665 
McKinley tariff, 629 
Ma-comS', Gen., 268 
Macon Bill No. 2, 253 
Mii-de'ro, 626 
Madison, Dolly, 252 
Madison, James, 169, 182-184, 188, 189, 220 

President, 252, 255, 272 

Virginia Resolutions, 231 
Magazines, 203, 274, 314, 426, 427 
Ma-gel'lan, 23, 24 
Magoon, 60S 
Ma-ho'ning River, 10 
Maine, and Massachusetts, 51, 58, 67 

boundary controversy, 339 

prohibition law, 311 

settlements in, 81, 38 

state, 2T9, xvi 
Maine, destroyed, 560 
Malvern Hill, battle, 445 
Mandeville's Travels, 4 



Ma-nil'a, 661, 664 

Mann. Horace, 312 

Manufactures, 195, 295, 296, 367, 429, 583 

in South, 583-584 
Marcy, William L., 387 
Ma-ri-et'ta, O., founded, 180 
Mar'i-on, Gen. Francis, 147 
Mar-quette' (-ket'), Father, 92 
Marshall, James W., 348 
Marshall, John, 230, 246, 298, 299 
Martial law, 464 

Maryland, 49, 64, 65, 67, 72, 189, 416, 475, 
485, XV 

ratifies Articles of Confederation, 159, 163, 
166 
Mason and Slidell, 407 
Mason, Capt. John, 50 
Mason and Dixon's line, 175, 280 
Massachusetts, colony, 47-48, 61, 67, 157, 
188, xvi 

education in, 75 

in Revolution, 132, 136 

Plymouth colony added to, 67 

Shays's KebeUion, 174 

slavery, 175 

western claims, 165, 175 
Math'er, Cotton, 77, 80 
Maxim, Hirara, 514 
Maximilian, of Mexico, 492, 493 
Mayfloicer, 46 
Meade, Gen., 448, 451 
Meade, Bishop William, 428 
Mecklenburg County, 153 
Memphis, 443 
Me-nen'dgz (-dath), 26 
Merchant, colonial, 118-119 
Merit system, 554 
Merrimaa and Monitor, 444-445 
Merria, Gen. Wesley A., .661 
Mei; 3-Argonne (muz-iir-gon'), 657 
Mexico, 24, 25, 36, 286, 333, 344, 347 

Indians in, 13 

Napoleon III and, 468, 492, 493 

war with IT. S., 344-348, 626-627 
Michigan, 274, 313, 3.52, xvi 
Midnight judges, 239 
Midway Island, .571, 635 
Mifflin, Gov., 227 
Mil'an Decree, 248 
Miles, Gen., 663 
Military Academy, 313 
Military government, in Civil War, 464- 

467 
Militia. 260, 261. 416,439 
Milligan, Dr., 464 
Milwau'kee, 424 
Mimms, Ft., 253 



/ 



Index 



xlvii 



Minerals, conservation of, 611-612 

Mining, M(>, 4-.'9, 504, 506 

Minneapolis, 92 

Minnesota, 408, xvii 

Mint, 216, 49S 

Minuteruen, 135, 136 

Miquelon (uie-k'-loN'), 102 

Mifanda, 2S4 

Missionary ItiJge, battle, 450-451 

Missions, 307, 308 

Mississippi, 219, 274, 276, 406, xvli 

Mississippi Eiver, discovered, 24 

explored, 92, 93 

jetties, 545 

right to navigate, 226, 240 

valley, S 
Missouri, 244, 277, 279, 416, 475, 485, xvii 
Missouri compromise, 277-280 
Mitchell, John, 600 
Mo-bi'le', founded, 94 

forts captured, 455 
Mo'doc Indians, 507 
Mo'hawks, 41 ; see Iroquois 
Molasses Act, 122, 127 
Money, see Coinage and Paper money 
Monitor, 444, 445 

Mon-roe', James, 169, 241, 260, 290, 299 
Monroe Doctrine, 290-292, 608, 609 
Monta'na, 500, 579, 580, xvii 
Mont-calm', Marquis de, 101 
Mon-te-rgy', battle, 346 
Montgoin'ery, Gen., 137 
Mont-re-al', 26, 39 

captured, 102 
MoN<.>!, Sie?tr de, 37, 38 • 

Moravians, 68, 206 
Mormons, 308-309, 393, 894 
Morrill tariff, 469 

Morris, Robert, 142, 172 ' 

Morse, Samuel F. B., 481 '^' 

Mosquitoes, S, 610 
Motley, John Lothrop, 427 
Mottl'trie, Ft., 406 
Mounds, 13 

Mount Desert Island, 39 
Mount Vernon, 181 
Mugwumps, 526 
Muh'lenberg, Frederick, 209 
Mur'freesboro, battle, 443 
Museums, founding of, 313 

Napoleon, 232, 258, 284, 285, 289 

Louisiana, 240, 241 

seizes U. S. ships, 248, 253 
Napoleon III, 468, 492 
Narragan'sett Indians, 50 
Nii.-va'sz (-ath), 24 



Nashville, 442, 458 ' 
National Colonization Society, 276 
National debt, see Public debt 
National parks, 589, 591 
National road, 271 

Natural resources of U. 8., 7-9, 11-12, 107, 
358-859, 365-366, 428^29, 503-504, 582- 
583, 633 
Naturalization, 230, 505 
Naval Academy, 313 
Naval stores, 112, 120 
Navigation Acts, 5:3, 61, 123, 127 
Navy, in Civil War, 439-440, 455 

in Revolution, 146 

in War of 1812, 256, 257, 259 

in war with France, 231, 232 

Jeft'erson and, 233, 247 

modern, 528, 562, 60S 
Nebraska, 888, 506, xvii 
Necessity, Ft., 99 
Negro Seamen .%ct, 408 
Negroes, see Slavery 

after Civil War. 481, 485-486, 495, 504, 600 

colonization of, 276, 475 

laborers, 583-586 

schools, 587 

suffrage, 490, 491, 495, 594 

troops in Civil War, 475 
Netherlands, see Dutch 
Neutrality, 224 
Ne-va'da, 476, 506, xvii 
Neville, Gen., 227 
New Albion, 29 
New Amsterdam, 40, 58 
New England, Indian wars in, 50, 62, 96 

settled, 46 

slave trade, 121, 122 

War of 1812, 261 

See also names of separate states 
New England Confederation, 52-53, 158 
New England Primer, 78 
New France, 39, 69 ; see Canada 
New Gra-na'da; 849 

New Hampshire, 51, 67, 156, 175, 189, xvii 
New Haven, 50, 58 
New Jersey, 59, 67, 73, 159, 173, 175, 188, 

xvii 
New Jersey Plan, 184 
New Mexico, 340, 344, 347, 350, 852, 353, 

582, 634, xvii 
New Netherland, 40, 58 
New Or'le-ans, 95, 102, 224, 240, 241, 243, 
246, 423, &i5, 584 

battle, 259 

capture in Civil War, 444 
New South, 537, 577 

education in, 666-587 



xlviii 



Index 



New York (city), draft' riots, 465 

growth, 58, CO, 73, 87, 109, 193, 273, 424, 
55G, 637 

in Kevolution, 142, 144, 146, 147, 14S, 170 

Tweed King, 540 
New York (state), " Antirent," 338 

colony, 73, 85, 87, xvii 

Constitution, 190 

western claims, 165, 175 
New York Harbor, 26, 40 
New'foundland, 29, 37, 97, 170, 289 
Newlands Act, 612 
Newport, 51, 144 
Newspapers, 77, 203, 814 
Ni-ca-ra'gua, 350, 493, 525, 609, 627 635 
Ni-co-le^', Jean (zhaN), 42 
Nic'oUs 60 
Nina (nen'ya), 19 
Nome, 570 

Nominating conventions, 327 
Nonimportation Act, 247 • 
Nonintercourse Act, 253 
Normal school, 312, 586 
North, Lord, 169 

North America, physical features of, 7-10 
North Carolina. 62, 67, 72. 190, 416, xvii 

in Revolution, 147 

western claims, 163, 176 
North Dakota, 579, xvii 
Northwest Ordinance, 178-180 
Northwest passage, 27 
Northwest Territory, 179, 274, 634 
Nova Scotia, 37, 39. 97, 100 
Nullification, 231, 327-328, 329, 330 

of Fugitive Slave Act, 383 

O'berlin College, 311, 319 ^ 

O'gle-thorpe, James Edward, 68 
Ohio, 219, 266, 275, 370. xvii 
Ohio Company, 99 

Ohio Company of Associates, 177, 180 
Ohio Idea, 498 
Oil, 366, 428-429, 583 
Ok-la-ho'ma, 581, 582, 588, xvii 
Oto'sted, Frederick Law, 530 
Olney, Pachard, 532 
O-nei'das, see Iroquois 
On-on-dii'gas, see Iroquois 
"Open-door" policy, 574 
Orange, Ft., 40 

Ordinance of 1787, 178-180, 385 
Or'e-gon, 244, 245, 840, 342, 343, 348, 408, 634, 
xvii 

explored, 244-245 

joint occupation, 289 
Oregon, 602 
Original Package Law, 547 



0-ris'ka-ny, battle, 143 
Orleans, Territory of, 243 
Os-a-wat'o-mie (-wot'), 891 
Og'good, Samuel, 211 
Ost-end' Manifesto, 388 
Otis, James, 128 
Ottawa route, 42 

Pacific Ocean, discovered, 23 

Pacific railroads, 375, 509, 579, 590 

Page, Thomas Nelson, 587 

Paine, Thomas, 154 

Pak'en-/iam, Gen., 258 

Pal'ma, Gen., 569, 608 

Pii'lo Al'to, battle, 346 

Pii'los, 19 

Pa-lou§e', 580 

Pan-a-mii', 21, 69, 349, 375 

Panama Canal, 524, 602, 603, 604, 605, 609, 

610 
Panama Congress, 292, 303 
Panama republic, 605 
Pan-American Congress, 529, 627 
Pan-American policy of Blaine, 525 
Panics, 332, 360, 379, 497, 512 
Paper blockade, 224, 247 
Paper money, 122-123, 171, 295, 297, 497, 498 

in Civil War, 469, 477 
Paris, peace of (1763), 102-103, 159, (1898)664 

treaty of (17S2), 169, 170 
Parish, government of, 87 
Parker, Judge Alton B., 605 
Parker, Theodore, 318 
Parkman, Francis, 427 
Parson's Cause, 129 

Parties, nee Federalist, Democratic, etc. 
Passamaquoddy Bay, 38 
Pastorius, 76 
Pat'er-son, William, 182 
Patrons of Husbandry, 520 
Pa-troons', 40 
Payne-Aldrich tariflf, 614 
Pea Ridge, battle, 443 
Peace Congress (1861), 411 
Pendleton Act, 523, 527 
Penn, William, 59, 65, 66, 77 
Pennsylvania, 64-66, 67, 73, 85, 87, 159, 175, 

177, 188, 271, 370, xvii 
Pensaco'la, 94, 288 
Pensions, 527, 528 
Peonage, 586 
People's party, 580, 605 
Pe'quot War, 50-51 
Por-di'do River, 240, 287 
Perkins, Jacob, 199 
Per'ry, Com. Matthew C, 378 
Perry, OUver H., 257 



Index 



xlix 



Perryville, battle, 443 
Pershinfr, Gen., 652, G57 
Personal Liberty Bills, 383 
Pe-ru', 24, 36, 2S5, 525 
Petersburg, siege of, 451, 452, 459 
Pet'i-gru, James L., 409 
Philadelphia, 66, 73, 169, 184, 193, 212, 370, 
371, 424, 539 

Centennial exposition, 519 

in Revolution, 136, 142, 144, 146 
Philip, King, Indian, 62 
Phil'ip-pine Islands, 561, 564, 574, 634 

discovered, '24, 29 

government, 564, 568, 569 
Phillips, Wendell, 318 
Phillips academies, 201 
Phips, William, 118 
Photography, 430 
Pickering, Timothy, 229 
Pickett, Gen, 448 
Pierce, Franklin, 387, 390, 391 
Pike, Lieut. Zeb'ulon, 246 
Pikes Peak, discovered, 245 
Pilgrims, 46 

Pinckney, Charles C, 229, 252 
P'i-ne'da, 24 
Fin'ta, 19 
Pirates, 239, 269 

Pitt, William (Chathaml, 101, 127, 139, 152 
Pittsburgh, 159, 227, 266, 267, 365, 370, 424 
Pittsburg Landing, battle near, 443 
Pi-ziir'ro, Francisco, 24 
Plank roads, 269, 271 
Planter, colonial, 111-113 
Plassey, battle, 101 
"Plate fleet," 69 
Piatt Amendment, 569, 608 
Plattsburg, battle, 258 
Plym'outh Colony, 47, 58, 67 
Plymouth Company, 43, 44 
Pocahon'tas, 45 
Poe, Edgar Allan, 314, 427 
Political methods, 619-621 
Po/k, James K., 341, 342, 344, 345, 347 
Pollard, Edward Albert, 315 
Polo, Marco, 4 
Pon'ti-ac, 16, 159 
Pony express, 432 
Poor Richard's Almanac, 79 
Poor whites, 422, 504, 584 
Pope, Gen., 446 
Pope's bull of 1493, 22 
Popular sovereignty, 350, 888, 390, 396 
Population (1700) 72, (1754) 100. (1776) 139, 
(1790) 193, (1800) 265, (1830) 314, 420, 
(1S60) 420-421, (1890) 537, 582, (1910) 
582, 592, 632, 633 



Port Royal, N.S.,97 

Port Royal, S. C, French in, 26 

Portages, Indian, 10, 11 

Porter, Capt., 257 

Pr.rtola'no, 2 

Poi'to Ri'eo, 563, 564, 568, 634 

Portugal, 4, 22, 284 

Host Office, 211, 325, 432, 643 

Po-to-si', in Peru, 25 

Powell, Major, 506 

Pow-ha-tan', 16, 45 

Preemption Act, 360, 610 

Prescott, WiUiam H., 314, 427 

President, 210, 211 
Electoral Count Act, 555 
Succession Act, 555 

Presidential election (1788) 209, (1792) 220, 
(1796) 228, (1800) 233, (1804) 245, (1808) 
252, (1812) 261, (1816) 290, 299, (1828) 
303, (18:32) 327-328, (1836)331-332, (1840) 
337, (1844) 341, (1848) 350, 351, (1852) 
392, (1856) 392, (1860) 404, (1864) 476, 
(1868) 494, (1872) 496, (1876) 519-520, 
(1880) 522-523, (1884) 526, (1888) 528, 
(1892) 531, (1896) bU, (1900) 566, (1904) 
605, (1908) 613, (1912) 621-622, (1916) 
649, (1920) 661-663 

Presqf/e Isle, 98 

Priyiof Islands, 570 

Princeton, battle, 142 

Princeton College, 83 

Printing, 2, 77 

Prison reform, 309-310 

Prisoners in Civil War, 478 

Proclamation, of 1763, 103, 159 
of Emancipation, 474 
of Neutrality, 224, 467 

Proctor, Senator, 560 

Professional schools, 202 

Progressive party, 615, 621, 649 

Prohibition, 311," 6o6, 626, 681 

Proprietary, or proprietor, 49, 62, 85 

Protective tariff, 173, 215, 297, 302, 303, 469, 
526, 528 

Protectorates, 609, 635 

Providence, 51 

Provincial Congress, 134 

Prii-d/tomTOe', Ft., 93 

Public debt, 171, 172, 214, 238, 332, 469, 497, 
527 

Public lands, 176-177, 267, 332, 359-361, 370, 
509, 610, 612 
grants to railroads, 375 

Pueb'los (pw6b'-), 12, 13 

Pu-las'ki, 141 

Pullman strike, 551-552 

Pure Food Act, 606 



Index 



Puritans, 46, 47 
Put-in-Bay, battle, 257 
Putnam, Kufus, 179 

Quakers, 53, 54, 59, 194, 206 

Quebec' (city), attacked by English, 101 

captured by English, 102 

founded, 38 
Quebec (province), 161, 163 
Quebec Act, 161 
Quin'cy (-zi), Josiah, 261 
Qui-vi'ra (ke-), 25 

Railroads, control of, 543-547, 601, 606, 625 
growth, 371-375, 432, 507-5U9, 512, 539, 

579, 590-591 
improvements in, 513, 642 
Ea'leie-A, Sir Walter, 29 
Randolph, John, 280, 297 
Rankin, John, 317 
Recall, 595, 620, 621 
Reciprocity, 525 
Rg-con-cen-tra'dos, 559 

Reconstruction, 478-480, 486-491, 495, 496, 526 
Redemptioners, 114 
Reed, Thomas B., 555, 560 
Referen'dum, 595, 620, 621 
Reformation, Protestant, 26 
Reforms, 307-313 

Religious reform, 307 ; see Churches 
Ren-ais-siiNfe' (-e-), 2 
Republican party (Democratic), 220, 224, 227, 

230, 231, 254, 201, 3o0 ; see Democratic 
Republican party (later), 391-392, 402, 411, 

474, 496, 524, 594 
Eg-sa'ca de lii Pal'ma, battle, 846 
Restoration of Charles II, 57 
Ee-ver«', Paul, 135 
Revolution, American, 126-148 
Revolution in France, 223, 306 
Rhode Island, 51, 58, 67, 84, 85, 86, 156, 175, 

188, 190, xvii 
Dorr Rebellion, 338 
Ribault, Jean (zhaN re-bo'), 26 
Rice, HI, 194 

Richmond, 430, 445, 451, 459, 466 
Riders, 521 
Riots, 338 

River and harbor bills, 370, 545 
Roads, 196-197, 219, 267-269, 271 
Ro-a-noke' Island, 29 
Robertson, James, 160 
Robinson, Rev. John, 46 
Kochambeau (ro-shaN-bo'), 148 
Itoch'ester, N. Y., 267 
Roek'e-fel-ler, John D., 512 
Rocky Mountains, 9, 589 



Roog'evelt, Theodore, 548, 554, 5C3, 567, 570, 

598-599, 600, 605, 607, 609, 613, 621, 649 
Root, Elihu, 599, 649 
Ro'ge-crans, Gen., 443, 449, 460 
" Rough Riders," 563 
Rule of 1756, 225 
Rumgey, James, 199 
Rush, Richard, 290 
Russia, 283, 291, 498, 628, 629, 653 
Rygwick, Peace of, 97 

Sacramento, 849 
Sii'ga, Icelandic, 18 
St. Au'gus-tinc, 26, 37 
St. Clair, Gen., 180, 218 
St. Croia-. Island, 635 

River, 170, 339 
St. Germain (saN-zhar-maN'), treaty of, 39 
St. Louis, 243, 267, 377, 424, 508 
St. Louis, Ft,, 93 
St. Marys settlement, 49 
St. Mihifl (suN-me-yc'l'), battle, 657 
St. Pierre (saN-pyar'), 102 
St. Thomas Island, 635 
Salem, Mass., 82 
Salt Lake City, 393 
Sa-ma-nd' (-na') Bay, 493 
Sa-mo'a Islands, 571, 634 
Sampson, Admiral, 562, 563 
San Francisco, 538, 539, 606 
Siin ll-de-fon'so, treaty of, 240 
Siin Juan (hoo-iin') Island, 499 
San Juan Hill, battle, 563 
Siin Miir-tin', Gen., 285 
Siin Siil-va-dor', 19 
Sanitary Commission, 476 
San'ta An'na, Gen., 345, 846 
Santa Fe trail, 840 
Santa 3fd-r'i'a, 19 
Santee Canal, 197 
San-ti-ii'go dg Cuba, 562, 563 
San'to Do-min'go, 21, 30, 498, 500, 609, 627, 

6;35 
Sarato'ga, surrender at, 143 
Saalt Ste. (sant) Ma'rie, 545 
Savannah, founded, 68 

in Revolution, 147, 148 

taken by Sherman, 456, 458 
Saybrook, 50, 76 
Scalawags, 491 
Se^e-nec'ta-dy, attacked, 96 
Sc/Uey, Admiral, 562, 563 
Schools, see Education 
Schurz, Carl (shurts), 363 
Sci-o'to Company, 177 
Scotch settlers. 68 
Scotch-Irish settlers, 78, 193 



Index 



li 



Scott, Gen. Winfield, 260, 34T, 387, 412 
Seabury, Samuel, 204 
Seal fishery dilflculty, 530, 570 
Secession, 404-40T, 409-410, 412 

effect of, 407-40S, 410 
Sedition Act, 230, 231 
Sem'i-noles, 361, 362 
Senate, 209 

Senators, election, 625 
Sen'e-cas, 41 ; nee Iroquois 
Separatists, 46 

Se-t'd'pis, captured by Jones, 146 
Seven Pines, battle, 445 
Seven Years' War, 101-103 
Severalty Act, 588 
Se-vier', John, 147, 160, 178 
Sev'ille, 69 
Sew'ard, William II., 385, 406 

Secretary of State, 412, 415, 492 
SO.v'mo«r, Horatio, 494 
Sh'a'dracA, 386 
Shafter, Gen., 562 
Shakers, 206 

Sharpsburg, battle near, 447 
Shaw, Col. Robert G., 475 
Shays's Rebellion, 174 
Shenando'ah, 441 
Shenandoah valley. 441 , 445 
Sher'i-dan, Gen. Philip H., 456, 458, 459 
Sherman, John, 521 

Sherman, William T., 443, 450, 454, 456, 
459, 460 

march to the sea, 455-456, 457, 458 
Sherman Act (silver), 530 
Sherman Antitrust Law, 547, 601, 616 
ShI'loh, battle, 443 
Shipbuilding, 119 
Ships (1588), 30 

growth of shipping, 119-120 

subsidy acts, 369 

See Steamboats 
Si-er'ra Le-o'ne, 5 
Si-er'ra Ne-va'da, 9 

Silver, coinage, 216, 476, 498, 522, 530, 532, 
534, 566 

mines, 429 
Simms, WUliam Gilmore, 428 
^imix Indians, 92, 507 
Sitting Bull, 507 
Six Nations, 97 ; see Iroquois 
Slade, William, 319 
Slater, Samuel, 199 
Slave insurrections, 316 
Slave trade, colonial, 35, 45, 121, 122 

foreign, prohibited. 174, 275, 384 

in Constitution, 186 

in District of Columbia, prohibited, 355 



Slavery, abolished in North, 174-175, 179, 
275, 472, 475, 637 

abolished in South, 485-486* ' 

abolished in territories, 472""" 

agitation, 275-276, 316-;318, 350, 382-387 

colonial, 68, 114-116, 195 

condition of slaves, 314-.316 

fugitive slaves, see Fugitive 

powers of Congress over, 383 

representation of slaves in Congress, 185- 
186 

Texan, 342 
Sli-dell', John, 344, 467 
Sloat, Com., 347 
Smith, Caleb B., 414 
Smith, Capt. John, 45, 77 
Smith, Gerrit, 318 
Smith, Joseph, 308 
Social development, 636-637 
Socialist party, 605, 613 
Societies, national, 639 
Soil, 8, 265 

Solid South, 523, 577, 594, 605, 613 
Sons of Liberty, 180 
SoM-le', Pierre (pyar), 388 
Sound Money Democrats, 534 
South America, 13, 22 

independent, 284-286 

Spanish in, 36 
South Bend, settled, 267 
South Carolina, 62, 63, 67, 72, 162, 163, 1S9, 
491, xvii 

French in, 26 

nullification, 327-328 

Revolution in, 141, 147 

secession, 404, 4ur>, ixl 

western claims, 1G3. 176 
South Dakota, 579, xvii 
Sower, Christopher, 76 
Spain, Black War>'ior difficulty, 388 

boundary controversies with, 243-244 

claim to North America, 25, 31 

colonies, 35-37, 69, 284-287 

conditions in 1492, 5, 7 

discoveries, 19, 21, 23-25 

in Revolution, 172 

treaties, (1795) 226, 241, (1819) 288, 290, 
(1898) 5&t 

war with England, 95 

war with U. S., 559-564 

West Florida dispute, 244, 287 
Specie Circular, 332 
Specie payments, 499, 521 
Spice Islands, 4, 29 
Spinning, machinery for, 199, 367 
Spoils system, 326 
Spotswood, Gov., 91 



lii 



Index 



Squatter sovereignty, 889 
Stamp Act, 127-128, 129, 130 
Stamp Act Congress, 130 
Standard Oil Company, 512, 616 
"Standpatters," 615 
Stanton, Edwin M., 406, 439, 492 
Star-Span gled Banner, 258 
States, government of, 157-158, 422-423, 590, 
645 
groups of, 633 

receive money from U. S., 332 
relations to U. S., 230, 231, 296, 383, 401, 

486-487, 495, 645 
table of, xvi-xvii 

See Secession, Reconstruction, etc., and 
names of the states 
States Riglits, 231, 329, 466 
Stay and Tender laws, 173 
Steamboats, 270-271, 368-369, 432, 508 
Steel making, 195, 513 
Stephens (sto'venz), Alexander H., 407, 409, 

410, 460, 489 
Steu'ben, Baron von, 141 
Stevens, Thaddeus, 487 
Stone, Lucy, 311 
Stone River, battle, 443 
Stoitie, Harriet Beecher, 382 
Stra'e^ey, William, 77 
" Strict Construction," 217, 220, 272, 296 
Strikes, 516, 550, 551-552, 600 
Stuart, Gen. J. E. B., 454 
Stuart, Gilbert, 203, 252 
Stity've-sant, Peter, 58 
Submarine, 629, 650, 651, 655 
Subways, 548 
Suffrage, see Voters 
Sugar Act, 127 
Sullivan, Gen., 162 
Sumner, Charles, 487 
Sumter, Ft., 406, 412, 414-415, 416 
Sumter, Gen., 147 
Sunday School, 307 
Supreme Court, 187, 212, 298-299, 361, 394, 

490, 495, 498, 532, 542, 568, 616, 645 
Sutter's Fort, 349 
Sussex, 647 

Swedish settlers, 41, 73 
Symwies Company, 177 

Taft, William H., 568, 569, 609, 613, 614, 616, 

621 
Tallmadge, James, 279 
Tam'many Society, 201 
Ta'ney, Roger B., 331. 395 
Tap'pan, Arthur and Louis, 318 
Tariff, in the dependencies, 568, 570 
on imports from Cuba, 569 



Tariff Acts (1789) 216, (1816) 296-297, (1824) 
301, (1828) 302, (1832) 327, (1833) 328, 
(1842) 338, (1846) 344, (1857) 379, (1861) 
469, (1883) 524, (1890) 529, (1894) 531, 
(1897) 566, (1909) 614, (1913) 624 

Tariff Commis.sion, 015 

Taxation, constitutional provisions, 187 
See Income tax. Tariff, etc. 

Taylor, ZaeA'ary, in Mexican War, 344, 346 
President, 350, 351, 353 

Tea tax, 131, 132 

Technical schools, 586, 587 

Te-cum'seh, 16, 253, 258 

Telegraiih, 431, 513, 643 

Telephone, £14, 643 

Teller Resolution, 561 

Temperance movements, 68, 311 

Tennessee, 219, 266, 274, 416, 421, 485, xvii 

Tenure of Office Act, 492 

Ter're Haute (hot'), 267 

Territories, see Northwest Territory, In- 
diana, etc. 

Territory, growth of, 634-635 

Ter'ry, Eh, 199 

Texas, 288, 333, 334, 341, 342, 344, 347, 352, 
353, 406, 488, 634, xvii 

Thames (temz), battle, 258 

Thomas, Gen. George H., 449, 458 

Thomas, Senator, 279 

Three-fifths rule, 186, 276 

Tilden, Samuel J., 519, 520, 541 

Tippecanoe', battle, 253 

Tobacco, "l2, 45, 49, 63, 107, 111, 583 

Toleration Act, 49 

Toombs, Robert, 353, 408, 415 

Tor-dg-sil'las (-yas), treaty of, 22 

Tories, see Loyalists 

Toronto, 258 

Tos-ca-nel'li, 4 

ToMs-saJN^' L'Ou-ver-tiire', 241 

Town government, colonial, 87-88 

Town meetings, 48, 88, 200, 238 

Town'gAend Acts, 130, 131 

Trade, see Commerce 

Trade routes, medieval, 3 

Trades unions, 429, 515, 641 

Traf-al-giir', battle, 247 

Transportation, see Railroads, Canals, Steam- 
boats 
Transylvania Company, 161 
Travel in U. S., 577 
Treasury notes, 261 
Treaties, see Commercial treaties, and 

treaties by name 
Trent affair, 467 
Trenton, 8, 169 ; battle, 142 
Trip'o-li, war with, 238-239 



Index 



liii 



Trist, N. P., 847 
TriR'k fanning-, 583 
Trust companies, 511 
Trusts, 541, 543, tlol 
control of, 547-549 
Tu-lrme' University, 586 
Tur-go<', 127 
TurliS, 3 
Turner, Nat, 31G 
Turnpikes, 197 
Tuscaro'ra Indians, 97 
Tuskeg-ee, 5S7 
Tu-tu-i'la, 571 
Twain, Mark, 270 
Tweed Ring, 540 
Tyler, John, 33S, 341, 342 

Uncle Torn's Cabin, 8S'2 

" Underground Railroad," 351, 384 

Underwood tariff, 624 

Union, Franklin's plan of, 99, 159 

Universities, 83, 202, 812, 425, 593 

U'tah, 309, 355, 893, 581, xvil 

U'treeAt, Peace of, 97, 121 

Vail, Alfred, 431 
Vallan'digAam, Clement L., 465 
Valley Forge, 144 
Van i?uren, Martin, 304, 325, 328 

President, 332, 333 

presidential candidate, 331, 351 
Vanda'lia Company, 160, 161 
Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 508 
Vanderbilt, William H., 543 
Ven-e-zue'la (-zwe'-), 284, 532, 607-608 
Ve'ra Cruz (kroos), 347, 626 
Vermont', 157, 174, 218, xvii 
Ver-ra-za'no (-rat-sii'-), 26 
Ve'§ey, Denmark, 316 
Vespu'cius, AmOr'icus, 22 
Vicksburg, 443, 447-448 
Vigilance committees, 349 
Vin-cenw?|', 94, 159, 163 
Virgin Islands, 635 

Virginia, 24, 29, 31, 44, 45, 63, 72, 189, 416, 
485, xvii 

Revolution in, 129, 130, 181, 133, 147 

western claims, 159, 163, 165, 175, 176, 219 
Virginia Plan of Constitution, 1S4 
Virginia Resolutions, 130, 231, 409 
Virffinins, 500 

Voters, 85, 157, 207, 238, 276, 823, 594, 621, 
643 

negro, 490, 491, 495, 496, 520, 594 

Wake Island, 571. 635 
Walk-in-ifie- Water, 271 



Walker, Robert J., 344, 393 
War for Independence, 134-148 
War of 1812, 254-260, 27'z, 295 
War with Germany, 647-660 
Ward, Artemus, 427 

Wars, see Indian wars, and wars by name 
Washington (city), 229, 25S, 351, 423, 446, 
464 

treaty of, 499 
Washington (state), 579, 580, xvii 
Washington, Booker T., 5s7 
Washington, George, 27 

Constitution, 182, 184, 189 

death, 232 

farewell address, 228 

French and Indian War, 99, 101 

President, 209, 210, 21S, 223, 224, 227 

Revolution, 133, 135, 136, 137, 141, 142, 
144, 145-146, 147, 148 

writings of, 172, 181, 203 
Washingto'nian societies, 311 
Wa-tau'ga settlement, 160, 176 
Water power, conservation of, 612 
Wat'ling (wot'-) Island, 19 
Watson, Elkauah, 197 
Wayne, Gen. Anthony, 219 
Wealth, 638, 636, 642 
Webster, Daniel, 301, 327, 330-331, 340, 352, 

353 
Webster, Noah, 314 
Webster-Ashburton treaty, 339 
Weed, Thurlow, 385, 423 
Welles, Gideon, 414 
Wesley, John and Charles, 83 
West, Benjamin, 203 
West Florida, 240, 241, 244, 287, 288, 634 
West Indies, 25, 35, 111, 115, 172, 283, 493 
West Point, in Revolution, 147 

Military Academy, 313 
West Virginia, 421, 475, 476, 478, 485, xvii 
Western Reserve, 176 
Western Union Telegraph Company, 513 
West'inghouse, George, 515 
Whig party, 332, 337, 387 
Whisky insurrections, 227 
Whisky Ring of 1875, 512 
White House, 229, 234 
White, John, 29 
White'fleld, Rev. George, 88 
Whitman, Dr. Marcus, 340 
Whitney, Eli, 195 
Whit'ti-er, John G., 318, 426 
Wigglesworth, Michael, 78 
Wilderness cam])aign, 451 
Wilderness Road, 161, 196 
Wilkes, Capt. Charles, 467 
Wilkinson, James, 246, 258 



liv 



Index 



"Wil-la'inet<e vallev, 343, 848 

William III, 67 

■William and Mary College, 75 

Williams, Roger, 51 

Wilmington, Del., 41 

Wilmot Proviso, 345, 350 

Wilson, James, 182 

Wilson, William L., tarilT, 531 

Wilson, WooUrow, ()'J2-C-23, 626, 649-652, 

658-660 
Winthrop, John, 48, 77 
Wisconsin, 352, xvii 
Witchcraft in the colonies, 81-82 
Wolfo, Gen. James, 101 
Woman suffrage, 311, 625-626, 638, 601 
" Woman's liights " movement, 311 
Women, education, 425, 638 
Wood, Gen. Leonard, 569 



Woolman, John, 174 
Wright, Frances, 311 
Writs of assistance, 128 
Wy'eth, Nathaniel J., 340 
Wy-o'ming, 506, 581, 625, xvii 
Wyoming Valley, attack on, 162 

X. y. Z. controversy, 229-230 

Yale College, 76 
York, Duke of, 58, 59, 60, 67 
Yorktown, 148, 169, 445 
Young, Brigham, 393, 394 

Zen'ger, John Peter, 77 
Zol'licotfer, Gen., Felix K., 449 
Zu'iJis 1-nyeeg), 12, 13 



^. 






i. \^^'-t 



